Sunday, September 11, 2011
letter 9/6/2011
Hey,
How are you doing? How is the family? Things are going good here. Just got back from Mahajanga and we are doing our email today since we probably wont be able to again until sometime next week or so. It was really nice to be able to get emails from everybody. I sure do love emails. Esspecially from dad. Haha they always make me laugh. So how is Nana doing? Is she going to be able to go into the temple soon. I cannot wait for her to be able to go. How is your scripture study going? Are you almost done with the Book of Mormon? I hope that you are close. It was way cool to be able to go back to Mahajanga. I was really happy to be able to see all of the members up there again.
I was actually really touched by some of their love for me. One of the members name is ***. He was one that I taught and baptised while I was there. When we went and visited him, he actually started to cry. I didnt know what to do. It was the last thing that I expected. I never really realized how much the gospel means to people. I was so touch to see that. I guess I always took those things for granted and never really thought about them. I shared a scripture with him that I really love in DandC 128 vs 22. And told him that even though the missionaries are always changing and leaving the love will always stay behind with us. I told him that he has made so many new friends and we must go forward with our cause so that we will be able to see them again in the next life. If we slack off and dont fullfil our works here in this life then we might not be able to be with them in God's Kingdom. I was really touched by the love that I felt from him.
So the missionaries are doing good in Mahajanga. ***** esspecially. We were able to go on splits with them up there. Haha I must say that you are becoming quite famous in all of the missionaries moms letters. Elder **** and Elder *******both said they new you and that you were best friends with their moms. Haha oh my. Well I am just glad that you are able to love the mission just as much as me, and that is the way it should be. But yes they are both doing good. I was able to go on splits with Elder ****** and teach with him. I should them around to all of the members there that they can teach and some less active members. Right now we are really focusing on working with the members. When the members help teach then the work just goes a whole lot better. It is our big goal right now in order to try and help get a temple into the land.
We also had the opportunity to take the Elders to a Ankarifasika, which is a rainforest that also has one of the rock forests as well called the Tsingy. It was really fun. I really enjoyed it, and I think that the Elders did as well. Elder ***** was also able to have one of his first baptisms in country in which he did in the ocean. He did a wonderful job and you could see the joy on his face when he was finished. it was really cool to be able to see. It is so wierd to see how many new missionaries there are. I am starting to notice that I am one of the oldest missionaries here. That is really wierd. I am not sure how much I like that. There is only one group ahead of my group right now. Gulp.
Things are going good though. Tell everyone that I am doing good and that I said hi. Now that we are back in Tana we are going to get back to getting things ready for when the Apostle comes. That is going to be so cool. I am really excited for that.
I will send you more pictures of Mahajanga when I get alittle more time. I was also able to eat sea turtle again while I was up there. Oh man it is soooooo good. I think that it is my favorite food.
Love,
Elder madsen
How are you doing? How is the family? Things are going good here. Just got back from Mahajanga and we are doing our email today since we probably wont be able to again until sometime next week or so. It was really nice to be able to get emails from everybody. I sure do love emails. Esspecially from dad. Haha they always make me laugh. So how is Nana doing? Is she going to be able to go into the temple soon. I cannot wait for her to be able to go. How is your scripture study going? Are you almost done with the Book of Mormon? I hope that you are close. It was way cool to be able to go back to Mahajanga. I was really happy to be able to see all of the members up there again.
I was actually really touched by some of their love for me. One of the members name is ***. He was one that I taught and baptised while I was there. When we went and visited him, he actually started to cry. I didnt know what to do. It was the last thing that I expected. I never really realized how much the gospel means to people. I was so touch to see that. I guess I always took those things for granted and never really thought about them. I shared a scripture with him that I really love in DandC 128 vs 22. And told him that even though the missionaries are always changing and leaving the love will always stay behind with us. I told him that he has made so many new friends and we must go forward with our cause so that we will be able to see them again in the next life. If we slack off and dont fullfil our works here in this life then we might not be able to be with them in God's Kingdom. I was really touched by the love that I felt from him.
So the missionaries are doing good in Mahajanga. ***** esspecially. We were able to go on splits with them up there. Haha I must say that you are becoming quite famous in all of the missionaries moms letters. Elder **** and Elder *******both said they new you and that you were best friends with their moms. Haha oh my. Well I am just glad that you are able to love the mission just as much as me, and that is the way it should be. But yes they are both doing good. I was able to go on splits with Elder ****** and teach with him. I should them around to all of the members there that they can teach and some less active members. Right now we are really focusing on working with the members. When the members help teach then the work just goes a whole lot better. It is our big goal right now in order to try and help get a temple into the land.
We also had the opportunity to take the Elders to a Ankarifasika, which is a rainforest that also has one of the rock forests as well called the Tsingy. It was really fun. I really enjoyed it, and I think that the Elders did as well. Elder ***** was also able to have one of his first baptisms in country in which he did in the ocean. He did a wonderful job and you could see the joy on his face when he was finished. it was really cool to be able to see. It is so wierd to see how many new missionaries there are. I am starting to notice that I am one of the oldest missionaries here. That is really wierd. I am not sure how much I like that. There is only one group ahead of my group right now. Gulp.
Things are going good though. Tell everyone that I am doing good and that I said hi. Now that we are back in Tana we are going to get back to getting things ready for when the Apostle comes. That is going to be so cool. I am really excited for that.
I will send you more pictures of Mahajanga when I get alittle more time. I was also able to eat sea turtle again while I was up there. Oh man it is soooooo good. I think that it is my favorite food.
Love,
Elder madsen
Sunday, September 4, 2011
letter from Bug 9/1/2011
Hey,
So this week I finally met the *******. They should have sent you a video message of me. I hope that you got it. I had them send it to this account. They are really really cool. Wow he is really good at what he does. He read me like a book. But the one thing that I loved about them was their personality. They were just fun people. Fun to be around, and fun to talk to. I really enjoyed them. We actually drove Elder ******* around alot. So I got to talk with him for quite a bit. I thought that it was really nice to be able to just laugh again. He is the funniest guy I have ever met. He reminded me of being back at home. All the jokes that we had. Plus he was very real. He was proud of who he was, and he didnt try to hide his personality or to hold back. He was very inspiring. Plus he really opened me up and saw how I ticked. He was able to get me to talk about everything. It was really wierd. He was able to get my trust. But it was nice to be able to talk to him about things. I have definately learned this week that no one is perfect, we cannot expect them too, including ourselves. By admitting our weaknesses it helps us to better fight them. It helps us to be able to become strong through the Savior. I have definately started to see more the significance of the Savior in my life. He is who I lean on for support. We all have the natural man, all those desires and wicked things, but through the Savior we can be lifted out of that.
One thing that ********* taught that I thought was cool, was how selfish sin was. In Moses 4 verses1 and 2 it talks about the pre earth life. It is when they are talking about the plan. He said count how many times Satan refers to himself. It is six. Here am I, send Me. When we sin we always are thinking only of ourself. We try to rationalize. Well you just dont know what I am going through. Or I am finding me right now. Why cant I be happy. It is always being so selfish. But then he said count how many times the savior refers to himself in the second verse. Not once. It is so powerful. I never noticed it. Once we stop thinking about ourselves and focus on others we are able to follow the savior. It really shows that principle of agency. Who are we choosing to serve, ourselves or the Lord. Once we are selfless we are able to draw closer to the Savior. I thought that it was very powerful. We need to ask ourselves, how can I forget about my wants and follow him. Pick up my cross and go to Calvary. There is a scripture in Matt 10 that says those that lose theirselves will find themselves. It is so true. It really felt inspiring to me.
Well tomorrow we are heading up to Mahajanga so I had to write you today. We will be back on Tuesday. I am so excited to be able to go back up there. I cannot wait to see all of the members up there. We are going to go up and do splits with some of the Elders up there. I am going to be so happy to see that area again. I would honestly live there I love it so much there. I cannot wait. So please tell everyone that I say hi. And to write me. Goodness they are worse than me at writting. I really like the pictures. They are way cool. Haha you must think that I am vacationing up here, with all of the cool pictures that I am sending. Sorry about that. I promise I do work it is just that the only time I really take pictures in on a pday. But I do have some good ones with members too. I am just sending you the exciting ones that show the highlights of the country. I hope that you will be able to come here someday. Madagascar is truly a magical and sacred place. I love it so much here. I feel that this country has stolen my heart and I will never be able to get it back.
Side note. Do you know how aunt ***** gets all of her sky miles and how I can start saving them up. ******** has invited me to come visit him in South Africa after the mission. They said that they can take us on Safaris and everything. They said they know alot of hook ups and for about one week for two people it would be about 700 dollars. That is food too. The only hard thing would be to fly there. But I know that ****** always is flying for way cheap and so I was wondering how she does that. i would love to be able to come back to mada and to africa. I love it here.
Love ya,
Elder Madsen
So this week I finally met the *******. They should have sent you a video message of me. I hope that you got it. I had them send it to this account. They are really really cool. Wow he is really good at what he does. He read me like a book. But the one thing that I loved about them was their personality. They were just fun people. Fun to be around, and fun to talk to. I really enjoyed them. We actually drove Elder ******* around alot. So I got to talk with him for quite a bit. I thought that it was really nice to be able to just laugh again. He is the funniest guy I have ever met. He reminded me of being back at home. All the jokes that we had. Plus he was very real. He was proud of who he was, and he didnt try to hide his personality or to hold back. He was very inspiring. Plus he really opened me up and saw how I ticked. He was able to get me to talk about everything. It was really wierd. He was able to get my trust. But it was nice to be able to talk to him about things. I have definately learned this week that no one is perfect, we cannot expect them too, including ourselves. By admitting our weaknesses it helps us to better fight them. It helps us to be able to become strong through the Savior. I have definately started to see more the significance of the Savior in my life. He is who I lean on for support. We all have the natural man, all those desires and wicked things, but through the Savior we can be lifted out of that.
One thing that ********* taught that I thought was cool, was how selfish sin was. In Moses 4 verses1 and 2 it talks about the pre earth life. It is when they are talking about the plan. He said count how many times Satan refers to himself. It is six. Here am I, send Me. When we sin we always are thinking only of ourself. We try to rationalize. Well you just dont know what I am going through. Or I am finding me right now. Why cant I be happy. It is always being so selfish. But then he said count how many times the savior refers to himself in the second verse. Not once. It is so powerful. I never noticed it. Once we stop thinking about ourselves and focus on others we are able to follow the savior. It really shows that principle of agency. Who are we choosing to serve, ourselves or the Lord. Once we are selfless we are able to draw closer to the Savior. I thought that it was very powerful. We need to ask ourselves, how can I forget about my wants and follow him. Pick up my cross and go to Calvary. There is a scripture in Matt 10 that says those that lose theirselves will find themselves. It is so true. It really felt inspiring to me.
Well tomorrow we are heading up to Mahajanga so I had to write you today. We will be back on Tuesday. I am so excited to be able to go back up there. I cannot wait to see all of the members up there. We are going to go up and do splits with some of the Elders up there. I am going to be so happy to see that area again. I would honestly live there I love it so much there. I cannot wait. So please tell everyone that I say hi. And to write me. Goodness they are worse than me at writting. I really like the pictures. They are way cool. Haha you must think that I am vacationing up here, with all of the cool pictures that I am sending. Sorry about that. I promise I do work it is just that the only time I really take pictures in on a pday. But I do have some good ones with members too. I am just sending you the exciting ones that show the highlights of the country. I hope that you will be able to come here someday. Madagascar is truly a magical and sacred place. I love it so much here. I feel that this country has stolen my heart and I will never be able to get it back.
Side note. Do you know how aunt ***** gets all of her sky miles and how I can start saving them up. ******** has invited me to come visit him in South Africa after the mission. They said that they can take us on Safaris and everything. They said they know alot of hook ups and for about one week for two people it would be about 700 dollars. That is food too. The only hard thing would be to fly there. But I know that ****** always is flying for way cheap and so I was wondering how she does that. i would love to be able to come back to mada and to africa. I love it here.
Love ya,
Elder Madsen
Sunday 9/4/2011
Sunday...
After getting home from church today I looked at my email and had the following message from *********.. I hope someday I can meet this couple in person..what amazing people they are.
Dear ***** - I am so glad you enjoyed the video postcard. Your son was even better than you described. He is absolutely delightful. His personality and his smile are so contagious. We were able to spend a couple of days with them and it was wonderful. You can be very proud of your son and the work he is doing. He is so positive and happy, we really enjoyed him. He and Elder ******* picked us up several times, we had dinner with them one night and they even accompanied us to the airport. My husband was able to spend more time with him and said "Elder ****** has an amazing heart and a bright future ahead of him."
I did do the kissing hand - he blushed and laughed but I could tell he was very touched - and knew just what it meant. He loves you and couldn't say enough about you and his family.
We had such an incredible trip - truly a memory that we will never forget. The people were so wonderful and kind. (Your son translated for us several times and did a great job with the language as well.) I am so happy we had the opportunity to meet him. I will be posting some pictures sometime this weekend on our blog - if you would like to see them.
Have a great day - know that your son is safe, happy and doing a great job serving his Heavenly Father.
Tia Ko Be, Bug, xoxo mom
After getting home from church today I looked at my email and had the following message from *********.. I hope someday I can meet this couple in person..what amazing people they are.
Dear ***** - I am so glad you enjoyed the video postcard. Your son was even better than you described. He is absolutely delightful. His personality and his smile are so contagious. We were able to spend a couple of days with them and it was wonderful. You can be very proud of your son and the work he is doing. He is so positive and happy, we really enjoyed him. He and Elder ******* picked us up several times, we had dinner with them one night and they even accompanied us to the airport. My husband was able to spend more time with him and said "Elder ****** has an amazing heart and a bright future ahead of him."
I did do the kissing hand - he blushed and laughed but I could tell he was very touched - and knew just what it meant. He loves you and couldn't say enough about you and his family.
We had such an incredible trip - truly a memory that we will never forget. The people were so wonderful and kind. (Your son translated for us several times and did a great job with the language as well.) I am so happy we had the opportunity to meet him. I will be posting some pictures sometime this weekend on our blog - if you would like to see them.
Have a great day - know that your son is safe, happy and doing a great job serving his Heavenly Father.
Tia Ko Be, Bug, xoxo mom
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
A Huge Surprise from Bug!
A Huge Surprise from Bug! One of the most amazing couple missionaries, that I follow here on blog world are the ********. They are the blog link called "*******" Elder ****** wrote the book "The Color Code" and I am a huge fan. I read on their blog last week that they were going to be meeting up with the mission president in Madagascar and posted how excited I was that they would be meeting my son Bug. ******* wrote an email to me asking me if I would like them to share anything with Bug when they met him this week. I will post about that later after I hear all the mushy details. Long story short..when I came home from work today I was stunned and so excited to recieve this in my email from ********.. It is my birthday this weekend and there is nothing that could have been a better present! Thank you for being such kind and considerate people and for absolutely making my whole day!
Monday, August 29, 2011
Lemur attack
I have been playing with this one all afternoon...I think it is done.. haha
Bug absolutely loves the lemurs in Madagascar and has sent a few pics home... these were the last set of pics..aparently they are pretty friendly!
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Monsoon in Mahajanga
Another layout for Bug's mission book...finally having a productive day!~
Tia Ko Be Bug,
mom
layout for Bug
One of the things that Bug was most excited to see while in Madagascar was the Baobab trees. He sent pictures of them this week. Here is a layout for his book that I am sooo behind on doing,.
Letter home 8/28/2011
Hey,
So this is sapposed to be my normal email day. haha But this is the first Sunday we havent been swamped up to our ears with work to do. I have not yet gone to Mahajanga, I will go up this Friday. I will make sure that I send some pics of him. From what I hear though he is doing good. He loves it up there, but how could you not. It is one of the coolest areas on the island. I am so excited to be able to go back up there. I am also sending some pictures of us with the other Elders like you asked. Here is one that I really like alot. It is when i went down to Antsirabe.
Today was really cool. I got to go to church in Mahamasina my first area, and also see people from Akorondrano, my second area. It was really cool to be able to see all of my old investigators again. It is interesting to see the members that are still really active, and also to see the ones that are not. It is alittle sad to see some of my old investigators that are no longer active. Some of them really suprised me. I thought for sure that they were rock solid in their testimonies. But everybody has their agency.
Things are going good though. We are just catching our breaths here before we head out again to Mahajanga. I am really excited to be able to go back again though. I miss it so much up there. I am also really excited to be able to see some of the members up there. That will be really cool to go see. It is wierd to think that I have almost been in the office for two months now. Man the time really does go by fast now. What is also really wierd is that ******* should be getting home in just a couple more weeks. Wow. That is really wierd. But ya you should send me more pics. Here I will make a deal with you. If you send me pictures I will send you pictures. haha I like it. Also tell Josh he should write me. The butt. And Dad too. They both havent written in a while. Josh in like forever.
I was also wondering. Do you still stay in contact with ****** mom anymore. I have not been able to write ******* back since he left on his mission, because I am not sure where to send it to. I was wondering if you could see if you could find his address from me some time. If so that would be awesome. I would love you forever. I am loving things here. There is not really much to tell you this week. We have just been taking care of things in the office. We no longer have an area but just work in the office now. It is a lot less stress. I think my hair is starting to grow back in. haha for a while there we were just sprinting to get everything done. I am so glad to actually be able to breath for at least one day out of the week. We are starting to get everything together for when the apostle comes. We are having a musical fireside for one of the nights, and I am going to play one of my piano pieces. It is good to be able to play the piano for alittle bit. I really miss the piano. Esspecially Lafanda. Sigh.
The dogs are really cute though. I have already showed president and he is in love with them. That is also good to hear that you are still in contact with ******. It seems like she is starting to respect you all alot more as well. Sigh. The things we do for those we love. SOOOOO.....Ya..... I am running out of things to talk about. I made tacos today.. . . I am thinking of making chicken crousants some time this week.......... I like rice.
OH ya and about when I go home. There is still no release date. Sorry. I was also wondering about your opinion on me extending :) ...... Just curious.......
love ya,
Elder Madsen
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Emails finally whohoo
Hey,
Sorry you havent heard from me in like forever. I have been really really busy here in the office. Man they really put you to work here if you know what I mean. I have been running around like a chicken with my head torn off. We have been introducing a new in field training program for all of the new missionaries that come into the country. It has been really cool. I really like the program. The new missionaries that are coming in are just getting better and better. It is making me feel like I was an idiot when I came in. About three weeks ago we had ten new missionaries come in. Haha so when we went to pick them up to my suprise none of their luggage had shown up and they were also missing two missionaries. Haha Ya they had lost two of the missionaries back in London or in Joberg I am not sure which one. The one had lost his passport while he was in the airport and so they would not let him leave the airport... obviously. Haha so the church had to send some people over and gotten it taken care of. The one came in the next day and the other came in the day after. Haha ya know my suprise as I had to walk back and tell ******** that we didnt have all of the missionaries. Also we are still missing one of the missionaries suitcases. I went out to the airport yesterday, because records say that the suitcase made it here to Madagascar, and I made them show me all of their back rooms to find this suitcase but it is not there. I think that it may have gotten stolen, that or it is in Korea or some place like that right now.
We also just got back from the mission tour where we interviewed and trained all of the missionaries in the south of the island. We stopped in an area called Isalo and took a pday. Wow let me just say that wow. If you ever come here that will be the first place I will take you. It will blow your socks off. I am trying to send you pictures but once again the computer is being stupid. But you should just look it up. Isalo Madagascar. You will be amazed. It was by far the coolest thing that I have ever seen in my life.
We also went to a new city called Tuleara, and started looking for members so that we can organize a group down there. My companion and I were the very first missionaries to ever go down there in history. We taught the very first time down there, and held the very first organized church meeting down there. I was like a pioneer of old. It was pretty neat. I have given mom a more full length version story so you will have to read her email due to time I will not be able to type that again. But it was probably the coolest thing that I have ever done. When I take you to madagascar, when I am rich and you are old and on a cane, I will know where to take you. We also drove through this rain forest called Ranomafana. You will have to look that one up as well. It is one of the Largest rainforests here in Madagascar again I have pictures but the computer is being stupid... sorry
So how is ***** doing? She tells me that her old roomate is learning from the missionaries. Also how did her move go? Did she get settled into her new place ok.? Also how are the puppies. Are you going to sell them or keep one of the boys. I would sure like one of those puppies but I would never be able to take care of them while I am going to school. I will just have to pray that Mumu is still pushing them out when I have kids of my own that can take care of them. haha. maybe. So how are the perspectives looking lady wise. Do you think there will be any girls even left when I get home. I am hearing that everbody is getting married. haha oh boy. I will tell you this much I am not going to be very good at dating... not that I ever was. But hey we are hoping for miracles.
Well I hope that you are going good and not too stressed with work. I love you tons and miss you like crazy. What is way scary is that I can count the months down on one hand now. Yikes. I think I might extend.
Love,
Elder Madsen
Hey,
I am baaaa aaaack!!!!! Did you miss me???? I am so glad to be back. It is so nice to be able to sleep in my own bed again. Oh goodness. The trip was very cool, but very very very long. We were in the car for almost 40 hours. It was so long. But we were able to do a visit to the missionaries in Antsirabe, (where I got to see ******* again, that was cool) Ambositra, and Fianarantsoa. Then we drove the rest of the way down to Tulear. On the way down you could see tons of Baobabs. It was really cool. I actually sent you a picture of that. Also ******* took a ton of pictures and he will be sending that to me so I will be sending you more pictures throughout the week as well.
It was really cool to go down to Tulear. We were like the pioneers. My companion and I were the very first missionaries in history to step foot in that town. And we taught the very first lesson in that town as well. How cool is that. We spent the majority of the time looking for the members that had moved down there. There was about 17 of them. Two of them have the Melchezideck priesthood and had been to the temple as well. It was actually really cool how we found them. There were about three different families down there that I already knew and had taught in my previous areas. One of them was *****, someone that I taught up in Mahajanga. It was so cool to be able to see him again. Also there was a family from Akorondrano that I taught and baptised and also a woman from Betongolo that I knew as well. I thought that it was really cool to see how the Lord had been preparing me throughout my mission to go and help these people. I thought it was a cool blessing in my eyes to be able to see that. Also one of the men that we found works for the ministry government. He was baptised in England back in 1999 and he moved to Tulear in 2000. He was shocked when we walked into his office. When we told him that we needed his help to organize the church, he told us that in his Patriartical blessing that it says that he would be the one that would build up and organize the church for the Lord. He said he always knew that we were coming, and he was just waiting for us. It was really cool for us to see that esspecially when he said it looks like I am finally going to be fullfilling that part of my blessing. It was really neat to see that.
There was one lady down there who was also extremely excited for us to be there. Her name is ******. She moved down there in about 2004. She almost cried when she saw us and literally followed us the entire time showing us where her family and friends live. She would come and wait for us in the lobby of the hotel and help us until we were finished at night. So it was alittle difficult because we have no church building down there. So our one goal was to first find all the members and those that were interested and second to find a place where we could hold a meeting. So we looked and found a little tiny school. On thursday the 18th of Aug the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints had its very first organized meeting at 3 o clock. It was so cool to be a part of that, and so spiritual. We didnt know how many people would come because we had only been there for two days, also it started to pour. But they started coming. Some of them were just random people that we street contacted. Some of them were presidents of their township, the Branch president from Reunion just happened to be there on vacation as well as the branch president from Tamatave. Some of them had been waiting for the church for years so that they could be baptised. In the end we had over 60 people crammed into that little tiny classroom. Well the power was out, but right after we said a prayer it came back on and we were able to show them the Joseph Smith video. I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life.
I dont know why but the Lord keeps giving me so many blessings that I feel I am not worthy of to recieve. I do not know why he allowed me to be able to witness such an amazing moment of history. I feel to honored and indebted to the Lord. I will never be able to pay off my debt to him. I am forever inserviced to the Lord. I feel so much love for my savior. All of the little things I have been able to do or even see is just innumerable. And I just wonder why. I just hope that I can pay him back in my service to him.
I also recieved one other blessing you might be interested in. (taken out for personal reasons) I know that this church is true with out a doubt. I am forever indebted to my savior.
Sorry to take so long to write. We have been running like crazy to get caught up since the trip. Let me tell you this much. The Office has definately made me learn how to handle many things at once. The hard thing is is that I am realizing the missionaries that are truly my friends and the ones that are very fake. Many people have been trying to use me to get transfer news, or they get upset when they didnt get transferred to where they wanted thinking that I would pull some strings for them. But I have definately learned to just say, I did my part I know what I did if they dont like it that is their problem. They will have to argue that one with the Lord. But I must say we have been extremely busy. We had more new missionaries come in that we had to do an orientation for, a transfer, a missionary in the hospital that we have to visit three to four times a day, and a zone leader training. All in the last 3 days. Haha, ugh and we have missionaries that say that the Aps dont do anything. Haha and today we started organizing everything for when the Apostle comes. I will be the senior AP when he comes to Tana so I am running the show in getting everything ready on the missionaries side. I am really excited for him to come. I am alittle nervous, but excited.
Things are going very good though. I absolutely love the mission. I love ******. I would love to get more pictures of the puppies if that is ok. ******really wants to see more of them as well. Let me know how everyone is doing. As of right now we still do not have a release date, but i will let you know as that gets closer. It is still far away. . . . kinda.
Well I love your guts,
Love,
Elder Madsen
Sorry you havent heard from me in like forever. I have been really really busy here in the office. Man they really put you to work here if you know what I mean. I have been running around like a chicken with my head torn off. We have been introducing a new in field training program for all of the new missionaries that come into the country. It has been really cool. I really like the program. The new missionaries that are coming in are just getting better and better. It is making me feel like I was an idiot when I came in. About three weeks ago we had ten new missionaries come in. Haha so when we went to pick them up to my suprise none of their luggage had shown up and they were also missing two missionaries. Haha Ya they had lost two of the missionaries back in London or in Joberg I am not sure which one. The one had lost his passport while he was in the airport and so they would not let him leave the airport... obviously. Haha so the church had to send some people over and gotten it taken care of. The one came in the next day and the other came in the day after. Haha ya know my suprise as I had to walk back and tell ******** that we didnt have all of the missionaries. Also we are still missing one of the missionaries suitcases. I went out to the airport yesterday, because records say that the suitcase made it here to Madagascar, and I made them show me all of their back rooms to find this suitcase but it is not there. I think that it may have gotten stolen, that or it is in Korea or some place like that right now.
We also just got back from the mission tour where we interviewed and trained all of the missionaries in the south of the island. We stopped in an area called Isalo and took a pday. Wow let me just say that wow. If you ever come here that will be the first place I will take you. It will blow your socks off. I am trying to send you pictures but once again the computer is being stupid. But you should just look it up. Isalo Madagascar. You will be amazed. It was by far the coolest thing that I have ever seen in my life.
We also went to a new city called Tuleara, and started looking for members so that we can organize a group down there. My companion and I were the very first missionaries to ever go down there in history. We taught the very first time down there, and held the very first organized church meeting down there. I was like a pioneer of old. It was pretty neat. I have given mom a more full length version story so you will have to read her email due to time I will not be able to type that again. But it was probably the coolest thing that I have ever done. When I take you to madagascar, when I am rich and you are old and on a cane, I will know where to take you. We also drove through this rain forest called Ranomafana. You will have to look that one up as well. It is one of the Largest rainforests here in Madagascar again I have pictures but the computer is being stupid... sorry
So how is ***** doing? She tells me that her old roomate is learning from the missionaries. Also how did her move go? Did she get settled into her new place ok.? Also how are the puppies. Are you going to sell them or keep one of the boys. I would sure like one of those puppies but I would never be able to take care of them while I am going to school. I will just have to pray that Mumu is still pushing them out when I have kids of my own that can take care of them. haha. maybe. So how are the perspectives looking lady wise. Do you think there will be any girls even left when I get home. I am hearing that everbody is getting married. haha oh boy. I will tell you this much I am not going to be very good at dating... not that I ever was. But hey we are hoping for miracles.
Well I hope that you are going good and not too stressed with work. I love you tons and miss you like crazy. What is way scary is that I can count the months down on one hand now. Yikes. I think I might extend.
Love,
Elder Madsen
Hey,
I am baaaa aaaack!!!!! Did you miss me???? I am so glad to be back. It is so nice to be able to sleep in my own bed again. Oh goodness. The trip was very cool, but very very very long. We were in the car for almost 40 hours. It was so long. But we were able to do a visit to the missionaries in Antsirabe, (where I got to see ******* again, that was cool) Ambositra, and Fianarantsoa. Then we drove the rest of the way down to Tulear. On the way down you could see tons of Baobabs. It was really cool. I actually sent you a picture of that. Also ******* took a ton of pictures and he will be sending that to me so I will be sending you more pictures throughout the week as well.
It was really cool to go down to Tulear. We were like the pioneers. My companion and I were the very first missionaries in history to step foot in that town. And we taught the very first lesson in that town as well. How cool is that. We spent the majority of the time looking for the members that had moved down there. There was about 17 of them. Two of them have the Melchezideck priesthood and had been to the temple as well. It was actually really cool how we found them. There were about three different families down there that I already knew and had taught in my previous areas. One of them was *****, someone that I taught up in Mahajanga. It was so cool to be able to see him again. Also there was a family from Akorondrano that I taught and baptised and also a woman from Betongolo that I knew as well. I thought that it was really cool to see how the Lord had been preparing me throughout my mission to go and help these people. I thought it was a cool blessing in my eyes to be able to see that. Also one of the men that we found works for the ministry government. He was baptised in England back in 1999 and he moved to Tulear in 2000. He was shocked when we walked into his office. When we told him that we needed his help to organize the church, he told us that in his Patriartical blessing that it says that he would be the one that would build up and organize the church for the Lord. He said he always knew that we were coming, and he was just waiting for us. It was really cool for us to see that esspecially when he said it looks like I am finally going to be fullfilling that part of my blessing. It was really neat to see that.
There was one lady down there who was also extremely excited for us to be there. Her name is ******. She moved down there in about 2004. She almost cried when she saw us and literally followed us the entire time showing us where her family and friends live. She would come and wait for us in the lobby of the hotel and help us until we were finished at night. So it was alittle difficult because we have no church building down there. So our one goal was to first find all the members and those that were interested and second to find a place where we could hold a meeting. So we looked and found a little tiny school. On thursday the 18th of Aug the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints had its very first organized meeting at 3 o clock. It was so cool to be a part of that, and so spiritual. We didnt know how many people would come because we had only been there for two days, also it started to pour. But they started coming. Some of them were just random people that we street contacted. Some of them were presidents of their township, the Branch president from Reunion just happened to be there on vacation as well as the branch president from Tamatave. Some of them had been waiting for the church for years so that they could be baptised. In the end we had over 60 people crammed into that little tiny classroom. Well the power was out, but right after we said a prayer it came back on and we were able to show them the Joseph Smith video. I have never felt the spirit so strong in my life.
I dont know why but the Lord keeps giving me so many blessings that I feel I am not worthy of to recieve. I do not know why he allowed me to be able to witness such an amazing moment of history. I feel to honored and indebted to the Lord. I will never be able to pay off my debt to him. I am forever inserviced to the Lord. I feel so much love for my savior. All of the little things I have been able to do or even see is just innumerable. And I just wonder why. I just hope that I can pay him back in my service to him.
I also recieved one other blessing you might be interested in. (taken out for personal reasons) I know that this church is true with out a doubt. I am forever indebted to my savior.
Sorry to take so long to write. We have been running like crazy to get caught up since the trip. Let me tell you this much. The Office has definately made me learn how to handle many things at once. The hard thing is is that I am realizing the missionaries that are truly my friends and the ones that are very fake. Many people have been trying to use me to get transfer news, or they get upset when they didnt get transferred to where they wanted thinking that I would pull some strings for them. But I have definately learned to just say, I did my part I know what I did if they dont like it that is their problem. They will have to argue that one with the Lord. But I must say we have been extremely busy. We had more new missionaries come in that we had to do an orientation for, a transfer, a missionary in the hospital that we have to visit three to four times a day, and a zone leader training. All in the last 3 days. Haha, ugh and we have missionaries that say that the Aps dont do anything. Haha and today we started organizing everything for when the Apostle comes. I will be the senior AP when he comes to Tana so I am running the show in getting everything ready on the missionaries side. I am really excited for him to come. I am alittle nervous, but excited.
Things are going very good though. I absolutely love the mission. I love ******. I would love to get more pictures of the puppies if that is ok. ******really wants to see more of them as well. Let me know how everyone is doing. As of right now we still do not have a release date, but i will let you know as that gets closer. It is still far away. . . . kinda.
Well I love your guts,
Love,
Elder Madsen
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
letter home today 8/9/2011
Hey,
Oh my Gosh they are way cute. Now are they the children of Sam's Bull dog? They are really cute. I want one. Haha ha. Mail it on over. Haha. But no they are really cute. I hope that ones back leg straightens out. That would be way sad for him. How is Mumu doing though? Is she fine from the c section. That is crazy to think that a dog needs a c section. Haha poor thing. That is great that ***** is coming over as well. Did she tell you that the missionaries tracted into her? I definately think that was an answer to prayers. I got two dear Elders from her and she sounds like she is doing ok. She talked alot about her belief in God. That is definately good. I am praying for her ever day. Also for Mumu I hope that she heals ok. That would just crush*** if anything ever happened to Mumu. But those puppies look very cute. They definately got alot of white from their dad. But I think that they will grow up to look very nice. I think that I will definately want a puppy in the distant future. But I think that it will be quite a while until I will even have half the time to even take care of one. But hey a dream is always good to have.
Things are going good. We went to an area called Moramanga to see if they were ready to recieve missionaries and got to look at a real rainforest while we were there. I am sending pictures. It was so cool. I have never seen so much green in my life. We also got to play around alittle with some lemurs. That was really fun. I really enjoyed that. I am also sending a picture where I am holding four lemurs at once. There were actually five on me at one time, but we didnt get the camera ready. But it was really fun. The lemurs would just jump right up on you. It was unreal. They were really cute as well. I really loved it. I think that it has probably been one of the funnest things that I have ever done. If we ever go back to Madagascar in the future, that is where I will take you. To see the rainforest and the lemurs. It was really fun.
I also got to pick up a missionary that was returning home from South Africa. I actually knew him from when I went over for my surgery so that was really cool to be able to see him home. He was not very happy to come home. Haha. We had alittle panick attack in the car. haha oh boy. Foreshadow. Haha. But it was kinda neat to be able to see him do that.
We also had a baptism this week. The baptism went great. The man that got baptised is named ********. He reminds me alot of dad. He is a Mechanic for a living. He also tries to act all big and tough all the time, but he isnt really. But he also has the same humor as dad. Haha I really like him alot. Their whole family reminds me of you all. Their daughter esspecially reminds me of *****. I think I might have already commented about that though.
So it is going to be a very very very busy month. Tomorrow we have a group of ten missionaries coming in. I am really excited for that. But because of all the new missionaries that also means that we had a GIANT transfer. So we get to figure out how to get all of the missionaries to their next destination. The transfer meeting was really neat though. It was really spiritual. I know that ****** is called of God. That is for sure.
We will be heading on our big giant 10 day trip on this sat. We will be visiting all of the missionaries. I am not sure if I will be able to write or not during that time. So dont be worried if you do not hear from me. But I will try to write you. I am just not sure what the plan will be. We will be on the road quite a bit. But I will definately take alot of pictures.
I hope that everyone is doing ok. Tell Jenny he needs to write me or he will be in big trouble. Haha but I will to get him an email today as well if I get some time. We got a couple seconds to breath so I decided to shoot you an email.
Also I got to talk to ******* today on the phone. She is the family from my first area. It is so cool to see the growth in their family. ******* is the second councilor of the bishopric now. They are begging me to come over and visit them. haha but I just dont have any time. I am going to have to see them before I leave though. That is for sure. I really love that family.
Well I love your guts,
Elder Madsen
Monday, July 25, 2011
7/24/11 email home
Way short email this week...but, better than nothing!!!
Hey,
Things are going very good here in Mada. I am still able to work in my old area so that is really good. I really enjoy Betongolo. Things are pretty good in the office. It is kinda a hard change. I feel like I am being trained again. Haha I feel like I am not doing anything right. But I am trying. We got alot of cool things that will be going on. I have a meeting with ******* today and we are going to discuss all of the happenings in the mission. We are going to set up our program and are going to be going around visiting the mission. I am way excited for that. We also have a baptism today. There are two that are going to be getting baptised. One is *****. He is a 15 year old boy that is way funny. I really like him alot. His best friend was baptised about two months ago, and so now he really wants to be baptised. He has been working really hard so that he can, and I am really excited to see his baptism. The other woman that is getting baptised is named *****. She actually has 12 siblings, and almost all of them are members. She is one of the last ones to be baptised. But she is finally ready. She just needed time to think things over and to get faith that it is true. But she is ready now. It will be really cool to be able to see her father baptise her today. I am sorry that this is a short email, I had a few minutes so I decided to shoot you a quick email. I miss you all a ton. Please tell everyone that I said hi.
Love,
Elder Madsen
Hey,
Things are going very good here in Mada. I am still able to work in my old area so that is really good. I really enjoy Betongolo. Things are pretty good in the office. It is kinda a hard change. I feel like I am being trained again. Haha I feel like I am not doing anything right. But I am trying. We got alot of cool things that will be going on. I have a meeting with ******* today and we are going to discuss all of the happenings in the mission. We are going to set up our program and are going to be going around visiting the mission. I am way excited for that. We also have a baptism today. There are two that are going to be getting baptised. One is *****. He is a 15 year old boy that is way funny. I really like him alot. His best friend was baptised about two months ago, and so now he really wants to be baptised. He has been working really hard so that he can, and I am really excited to see his baptism. The other woman that is getting baptised is named *****. She actually has 12 siblings, and almost all of them are members. She is one of the last ones to be baptised. But she is finally ready. She just needed time to think things over and to get faith that it is true. But she is ready now. It will be really cool to be able to see her father baptise her today. I am sorry that this is a short email, I had a few minutes so I decided to shoot you a quick email. I miss you all a ton. Please tell everyone that I said hi.
Love,
Elder Madsen
Monday, July 18, 2011
to dad 7/16/2011
Hey,
So I got a new calling and I am now the assistant to the president. Because of that I dont get pdays anymore. haha but I get to email you, just when I get time though. So also because I am working at the office I have to use the computers here, but for some reason my yahoo mail doesnt work on these computers, so I made a new gmail accout. Well this is it. Thanks for sending the card. The package came all in one piece. Nothing was stolen from it or anything. I really liked the almonds that you sent. Man they were good. They are actually all gone, ha I already ate them all. So mom told me that I have to take some money off the new card to buy shirts, so I will take the 50 dollars off and see what I can find. I think I might go ahead and start finding you all some cool souvineers instead though. So guess what. Now that I am ap I get to drive the car!!!! WOOO and also it is a stick, Not so WOOO. Haha but I am learning how to drive it now. My companion is really cool. His name is Elder ******, and he has a ton of patience and is teaching me how to drive. So that is good. Maybe this means that when I get back you will let me drive your truck........ huh huh.... just think about it ok. Haha so did Elder ****** ever email you? What did he say? Haha he is a cool kid. I really got along with him good. Things are pretty hard here in the office. Right now we are working in the office and also in my old area as well. Haha we are pretty much doing double the work in half the time. But that is ok, I enjoy it so far. ******** wants to take a trip and drive down to Ft Dauphin and visit the missionaries down there. Normally you have to fly to get down there, but we are going to drive. I am so excited. That is where all of the big Baobabs are. Man ******* and his wife are soooo cool. They are the nicest people I know. They are so thoughtful of all the missionaries and try so hard to be able to help us all. I am so thankful for all that they are dong for us. I never really realized how hard they work for us, but now that I am in the office I see just how much they really do.
So I am kinda leaning to Weber more too right now. Alot of guys I know are going there, and the goal is to eventually get into the U. But if it is closer to where the job is, I think that that would be the smarter choice. I hear that gas is just crazy high. We took some of the dying missionaries to the airport, and it was wierd seeing them go. It reminded me how close it is until I am going to be going. I miss you all a ton though. I will let you know when I finally get the hang of driving the stick though.
Love ya,
Elder Madsen
So I got a new calling and I am now the assistant to the president. Because of that I dont get pdays anymore. haha but I get to email you, just when I get time though. So also because I am working at the office I have to use the computers here, but for some reason my yahoo mail doesnt work on these computers, so I made a new gmail accout. Well this is it. Thanks for sending the card. The package came all in one piece. Nothing was stolen from it or anything. I really liked the almonds that you sent. Man they were good. They are actually all gone, ha I already ate them all. So mom told me that I have to take some money off the new card to buy shirts, so I will take the 50 dollars off and see what I can find. I think I might go ahead and start finding you all some cool souvineers instead though. So guess what. Now that I am ap I get to drive the car!!!! WOOO and also it is a stick, Not so WOOO. Haha but I am learning how to drive it now. My companion is really cool. His name is Elder ******, and he has a ton of patience and is teaching me how to drive. So that is good. Maybe this means that when I get back you will let me drive your truck........ huh huh.... just think about it ok. Haha so did Elder ****** ever email you? What did he say? Haha he is a cool kid. I really got along with him good. Things are pretty hard here in the office. Right now we are working in the office and also in my old area as well. Haha we are pretty much doing double the work in half the time. But that is ok, I enjoy it so far. ******** wants to take a trip and drive down to Ft Dauphin and visit the missionaries down there. Normally you have to fly to get down there, but we are going to drive. I am so excited. That is where all of the big Baobabs are. Man ******* and his wife are soooo cool. They are the nicest people I know. They are so thoughtful of all the missionaries and try so hard to be able to help us all. I am so thankful for all that they are dong for us. I never really realized how hard they work for us, but now that I am in the office I see just how much they really do.
So I am kinda leaning to Weber more too right now. Alot of guys I know are going there, and the goal is to eventually get into the U. But if it is closer to where the job is, I think that that would be the smarter choice. I hear that gas is just crazy high. We took some of the dying missionaries to the airport, and it was wierd seeing them go. It reminded me how close it is until I am going to be going. I miss you all a ton though. I will let you know when I finally get the hang of driving the stick though.
Love ya,
Elder Madsen
Letter 7/16/2011
Hey,
So if finally got a new email that will actually send messages. So from now on if you will email this one. Things are going good though. It is really busy here. We are working here in the office but also working my old area as well. So we are pretty much doing doulble the work in half the time. Haha but that is ok it is really rewarding. I am loving every second of it. I am really liking my new companion. Elder ******. He is really cool. Just this last week we set 12 bap dates and yesterday taught 7 times in half a work day. Busy busy busy. Haha but it is really cool to be able to work so close to *******. He is a really amazing person. Both him and his wife are the nicest people I have ever met in my life. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be able to be here and to work with them. I also am driving now. Haha scary. And to make it even scarier, is that I am driving a stick shift. I am just learning so I cannot say that I am very good at it, and this is not really the easiest of places to learn. but my companion has alot of patience and so I know that I will get it sooner than later. Man it is really wierd being ap. But the blessings are real. So just Wednesday we took the dying missionaries to the airport. Man that was crazy wierd. It really scared me to realize how short of time I have left. I am trying to suck in all the experiences I can, because I know that it will be over soon. I cannot wait to see the adventures that are in store though. ***** is going to be having a planning session with us on monday and he is saying that we might be heading back up to Mahajanga soon. I am so excited to be able to go back up there and to see that. I think I might cry when I see the members up there again. I really miss it up there. Also he is planning on having a trip down to visit the missionaries at the bottom of the island in Ft Dauphin, and also maybe if we are lucky, go and scope out one of the new towns that might be opening up soon, Tuleara. I am so excited because he wants to drive down there, and that means we will be going through all of the baobabs and what not. Oh man that will be so cool. I am so excited for that. So one of the people that we taught yesterday went very well. Her name is *****, and we had to just teach her on her porch because we didnt have any guys there to teach her. But during the time we started to teach about the book of mormon and we asked her if she wanted to be baptised and she said, "Finally! I wanted to be baptised the last time you came over but you never asked!" I was so suprised. Haha the work is going great. We were also going yesterday to find one of our investigators and I took a wrong turn and went into some ladies yard. She was way shocked to see us, and she asked us to teach her. Well it turns out that her sister is a member, and this lady had been reading the book of mormon and knew all about joseph smith. She then asked us, " How can I know which church is true?" The time went awesome. I was so shocked at how the Lord is preparing the way for us. If we had not taken that wrong turn we would have never even seen that woman. Things are definately going good in the area. I am also really happy that I didnt have to leave, but that I was able to stay so that I could see all of my investigators still. So I have sent a ton of pictures for you to use. Two to dad, Three to you, and I think Two to nana. They should all be different as well, so you can get on and use them if you would like, I hope that you like them. I tried to find some good ones. I will also send you a picture of me and my current companion Elder ****. So ya just letting you know that things are going good, I miss you all a ton and I will let you know if there is anything new. But I love your guts. Thanks for the package. Tell everybody I love them and give kacee a hug for me too.
Love,
Elder Madsen
So if finally got a new email that will actually send messages. So from now on if you will email this one. Things are going good though. It is really busy here. We are working here in the office but also working my old area as well. So we are pretty much doing doulble the work in half the time. Haha but that is ok it is really rewarding. I am loving every second of it. I am really liking my new companion. Elder ******. He is really cool. Just this last week we set 12 bap dates and yesterday taught 7 times in half a work day. Busy busy busy. Haha but it is really cool to be able to work so close to *******. He is a really amazing person. Both him and his wife are the nicest people I have ever met in my life. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be able to be here and to work with them. I also am driving now. Haha scary. And to make it even scarier, is that I am driving a stick shift. I am just learning so I cannot say that I am very good at it, and this is not really the easiest of places to learn. but my companion has alot of patience and so I know that I will get it sooner than later. Man it is really wierd being ap. But the blessings are real. So just Wednesday we took the dying missionaries to the airport. Man that was crazy wierd. It really scared me to realize how short of time I have left. I am trying to suck in all the experiences I can, because I know that it will be over soon. I cannot wait to see the adventures that are in store though. ***** is going to be having a planning session with us on monday and he is saying that we might be heading back up to Mahajanga soon. I am so excited to be able to go back up there and to see that. I think I might cry when I see the members up there again. I really miss it up there. Also he is planning on having a trip down to visit the missionaries at the bottom of the island in Ft Dauphin, and also maybe if we are lucky, go and scope out one of the new towns that might be opening up soon, Tuleara. I am so excited because he wants to drive down there, and that means we will be going through all of the baobabs and what not. Oh man that will be so cool. I am so excited for that. So one of the people that we taught yesterday went very well. Her name is *****, and we had to just teach her on her porch because we didnt have any guys there to teach her. But during the time we started to teach about the book of mormon and we asked her if she wanted to be baptised and she said, "Finally! I wanted to be baptised the last time you came over but you never asked!" I was so suprised. Haha the work is going great. We were also going yesterday to find one of our investigators and I took a wrong turn and went into some ladies yard. She was way shocked to see us, and she asked us to teach her. Well it turns out that her sister is a member, and this lady had been reading the book of mormon and knew all about joseph smith. She then asked us, " How can I know which church is true?" The time went awesome. I was so shocked at how the Lord is preparing the way for us. If we had not taken that wrong turn we would have never even seen that woman. Things are definately going good in the area. I am also really happy that I didnt have to leave, but that I was able to stay so that I could see all of my investigators still. So I have sent a ton of pictures for you to use. Two to dad, Three to you, and I think Two to nana. They should all be different as well, so you can get on and use them if you would like, I hope that you like them. I tried to find some good ones. I will also send you a picture of me and my current companion Elder ****. So ya just letting you know that things are going good, I miss you all a ton and I will let you know if there is anything new. But I love your guts. Thanks for the package. Tell everybody I love them and give kacee a hug for me too.
Love,
Elder Madsen
Thursday, July 14, 2011
7/15/2011 Transfers and New AP!
Hey,
Sorry this is Elder Madsen (bug). My email is having some trouble sending and so I am using my companions account at the moment. I just want you to know that I got the package, and I got the card as well. So when you are able to activate it, please send the pin to my yahoo email account. I am able to read the emails just fine, it just will not let me send anything. I am thinking that I will create a gmail account. I will let you know what it is however when I get it. Since I have upgrated my yahoo account however it will not let me send anything. I think that the internet is too slow here. Also you are probably noticing that you are getting this email early. I got transfer news and turns out that I am the new ap. SO I am now working in the office with the president. Because of that I may not be able to get an email out to you every Monday, but dont worry you will get an email from me once a week, it will just be when I get time because we no longer have a pday.
Love your guts,
Elder Madsen
P.S. Dont worry about everybodies emails, I am doing fine. I am just happy that everybody is emailing me.
Sorry this is Elder Madsen (bug). My email is having some trouble sending and so I am using my companions account at the moment. I just want you to know that I got the package, and I got the card as well. So when you are able to activate it, please send the pin to my yahoo email account. I am able to read the emails just fine, it just will not let me send anything. I am thinking that I will create a gmail account. I will let you know what it is however when I get it. Since I have upgrated my yahoo account however it will not let me send anything. I think that the internet is too slow here. Also you are probably noticing that you are getting this email early. I got transfer news and turns out that I am the new ap. SO I am now working in the office with the president. Because of that I may not be able to get an email out to you every Monday, but dont worry you will get an email from me once a week, it will just be when I get time because we no longer have a pday.
Love your guts,
Elder Madsen
P.S. Dont worry about everybodies emails, I am doing fine. I am just happy that everybody is emailing me.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Whenever your in trouble
Not sure why but Bug is on my mind today.. I found this video and wanted to share it for him today..
Tia Ko Be, Bug,
mom
http://www.donny.com/video/2000s-featured_videos-then_and_now/whenever_youre_in_trouble
Tia Ko Be, Bug,
mom
http://www.donny.com/video/2000s-featured_videos-then_and_now/whenever_youre_in_trouble
Monday, July 11, 2011
Letters today 7/11/11
Hey,
SO as of right now there is still no news on transfers, we get that later tonight. So I will tell you next week what happens. I really do love my area right now though. I dont want to leave; that is for sure. We had a baptism last sat. Haha it was really cool. His name is ***. He is a really good kid. He use to always wear this hat, but the day before his baptism when we were teaching him, he took his straw hat and he cut it up infront of us. He did it as a sign of leaving his old life behind. He said that he is never ever going to be going back. I was really touched by it. I thought it was so cool. He is so devoted to the gospel. I know that the church changes people. Helps them to be better. Because of this one boy there is now his mother and two of his friends that want to learn. Also do you remember ***. He is probably my favorite person that I have baptised. He has brought 8 people to us that wants to learn and to be baptised; It is so cool. I am so humbled for them being little ^pioneers in their lives. It is so cool to me.
So things with the two girls have not gotten any better but I would say that they have gotten worse. The one girl that use to help us all the time no longer helps us anymore. I made the mistake of telling her that I felt that she should try to make things better between them because she is currently waiting on a mission call. Well she told me she couldnt wait until ELder *** got a new companion and to have me leave. HAHAHA OK so ya I am no longer having her help us. For obvious reasons. It is sad that people let anger rule their lives. I just wish they could just let things go; but I guess not.
Do you know the name of the people that are sapposed to be coming? I dont think that i have heard of anything. BUt I will keep an eye out. I am sending alot of Return missionaries your way for free hair cutts so just a heads up haha. But I am still looking for the package, I will let you know if it gets here though. But I love your gutts;
Love,
SO as of right now there is still no news on transfers, we get that later tonight. So I will tell you next week what happens. I really do love my area right now though. I dont want to leave; that is for sure. We had a baptism last sat. Haha it was really cool. His name is ***. He is a really good kid. He use to always wear this hat, but the day before his baptism when we were teaching him, he took his straw hat and he cut it up infront of us. He did it as a sign of leaving his old life behind. He said that he is never ever going to be going back. I was really touched by it. I thought it was so cool. He is so devoted to the gospel. I know that the church changes people. Helps them to be better. Because of this one boy there is now his mother and two of his friends that want to learn. Also do you remember ***. He is probably my favorite person that I have baptised. He has brought 8 people to us that wants to learn and to be baptised; It is so cool. I am so humbled for them being little ^pioneers in their lives. It is so cool to me.
So things with the two girls have not gotten any better but I would say that they have gotten worse. The one girl that use to help us all the time no longer helps us anymore. I made the mistake of telling her that I felt that she should try to make things better between them because she is currently waiting on a mission call. Well she told me she couldnt wait until ELder *** got a new companion and to have me leave. HAHAHA OK so ya I am no longer having her help us. For obvious reasons. It is sad that people let anger rule their lives. I just wish they could just let things go; but I guess not.
Do you know the name of the people that are sapposed to be coming? I dont think that i have heard of anything. BUt I will keep an eye out. I am sending alot of Return missionaries your way for free hair cutts so just a heads up haha. But I am still looking for the package, I will let you know if it gets here though. But I love your gutts;
Love,
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
July 6, 2011
Got to talk to Bug, Via yahoo messanger that is..haha ...oh it was so awesome... I didn't get a letter this week though because we spent the whole alloted time he had talking instead..now that is better in my opinion.
He is doing great and loving being a zone leader even though it is a bit "stressful" at times he said. He is a bit worried about coming home but, looking forward to spending time chillin with the family. Only 6 more months to go!!!
He is doing great and loving being a zone leader even though it is a bit "stressful" at times he said. He is a bit worried about coming home but, looking forward to spending time chillin with the family. Only 6 more months to go!!!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Letters home today 6/20/11
Hey,
WOOOOO I cannot wait for the package. And it should be just in time. We have a transfer coming up in 3 weeks and since I have been in Betongolo for 4 months now I am about ready to be moving. I am thinking that I could go province again. We will see how that goes. One can only hope. I really cant wait to see more of Madagascar. I love the ward that I am in but I am really getting tired of all the fighting and all of the drama. There are two girls in particular that just make eachothers lives miserable. Ugh. I would never be able to be a bishop. Well I gave a talk yesterday and talked on Charity. I talked about how charity is more than giving to the poor but to not talk bad about others and if you are offended to get over it and to forgive. Haha everybody that didnt need to learn anything from the talk said that it was great. they said that is was one of the best talks they have ever heard. Infact they said that I am not a vazaha but that I am Malagasy. Haha but the people that needed to llearn from it didnt have very much to say about the talk. Haha oh well. So cool story, I ran into one of my old investigators that had moved suddenly from my first area. I was doing zone leader splits and found her. when she saw me she started crying and kissed my hand. It was the wierdest thing ever, but it was really cool at the same time. I also have found this less active family that was baptised in 1998 but they have not prayed in 5 years. I am trying to get them back to lchurch but it is turning out to be alot harder than I origionaly thought.
But things are going good here. I told dad happy fathers day. It is also the independence day this weekend so I am not sure how many times will be taught, but hey there will always be next week. I love you all and miss you. Wow can you believe we are down to the home stretch now; there is only like 6 months left. That is so crazy to me. Well I love you a ton. I will let you know when the packages get here. Thank you so much. I am very excited to get them.
Thanks,
Love,
Elder Madsen
to dad:
Hey,
HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!! you old fart. Are you still breathing without a little tube? haha jk; haha oh man Josh is starting to sound like he is becoming more and moe like me. Ha not telling you about things until the minute of. I hope that he had fun though. I wouldnt sweat it too much he will have another concert so... ya life goes on. Speaking of which though, it has been about a months since ***** has even cared to send me so much as a fart my way. Haha but I am not too worried about it. Haha I will have you know that I am pretty sure I will know how to shave. I think..... But also speaking of which I might need to pull out 20 dollars from the bank account to get this thing called a vango vango. But how is everything goingg at home though. How is mom holding up. I am way excitedd for the package. Haha I will wait by the mailbox every day. And by mail box I mean the little stump that a man normaly waits by reading everybodys mail. Things are going good here. No one has been home because of fathers day and pentacost day....which is wierd because none of them even know what pentacost is it is just an excuse for them to go and get drunk. Also this sat and sund is the countries indepencance day. That should be fun. I dont think we will be able to teach any times at all.
Haha so I gave a talk last sunday. The ward has been having problems about everybody gossiping about everybody and just being completely horrible to eachother. In particular two girls. So I gave a talk on charity and how it is more than just giving food to the poor but it means you dont talk bad about other people and if you are offended you choose to forgive them. I talked about how being offended is a choice and also a sin. Haha all the people that didnt need to hear the talk said it was the best talk that they have ever heard. They told me that I wasnt a vazaha but a malagasy. Haha but the two girls that needed to hear it didnt have too much to say about it. haha I hope the guilt eats away at them. Well other than that things are going very well. YOu can start to see a lump now on my belly where the baby is. Oh boy.
Love ya,
Elder Madsen
WOOOOO I cannot wait for the package. And it should be just in time. We have a transfer coming up in 3 weeks and since I have been in Betongolo for 4 months now I am about ready to be moving. I am thinking that I could go province again. We will see how that goes. One can only hope. I really cant wait to see more of Madagascar. I love the ward that I am in but I am really getting tired of all the fighting and all of the drama. There are two girls in particular that just make eachothers lives miserable. Ugh. I would never be able to be a bishop. Well I gave a talk yesterday and talked on Charity. I talked about how charity is more than giving to the poor but to not talk bad about others and if you are offended to get over it and to forgive. Haha everybody that didnt need to learn anything from the talk said that it was great. they said that is was one of the best talks they have ever heard. Infact they said that I am not a vazaha but that I am Malagasy. Haha but the people that needed to llearn from it didnt have very much to say about the talk. Haha oh well. So cool story, I ran into one of my old investigators that had moved suddenly from my first area. I was doing zone leader splits and found her. when she saw me she started crying and kissed my hand. It was the wierdest thing ever, but it was really cool at the same time. I also have found this less active family that was baptised in 1998 but they have not prayed in 5 years. I am trying to get them back to lchurch but it is turning out to be alot harder than I origionaly thought.
But things are going good here. I told dad happy fathers day. It is also the independence day this weekend so I am not sure how many times will be taught, but hey there will always be next week. I love you all and miss you. Wow can you believe we are down to the home stretch now; there is only like 6 months left. That is so crazy to me. Well I love you a ton. I will let you know when the packages get here. Thank you so much. I am very excited to get them.
Thanks,
Love,
Elder Madsen
to dad:
Hey,
HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!!! you old fart. Are you still breathing without a little tube? haha jk; haha oh man Josh is starting to sound like he is becoming more and moe like me. Ha not telling you about things until the minute of. I hope that he had fun though. I wouldnt sweat it too much he will have another concert so... ya life goes on. Speaking of which though, it has been about a months since ***** has even cared to send me so much as a fart my way. Haha but I am not too worried about it. Haha I will have you know that I am pretty sure I will know how to shave. I think..... But also speaking of which I might need to pull out 20 dollars from the bank account to get this thing called a vango vango. But how is everything goingg at home though. How is mom holding up. I am way excitedd for the package. Haha I will wait by the mailbox every day. And by mail box I mean the little stump that a man normaly waits by reading everybodys mail. Things are going good here. No one has been home because of fathers day and pentacost day....which is wierd because none of them even know what pentacost is it is just an excuse for them to go and get drunk. Also this sat and sund is the countries indepencance day. That should be fun. I dont think we will be able to teach any times at all.
Haha so I gave a talk last sunday. The ward has been having problems about everybody gossiping about everybody and just being completely horrible to eachother. In particular two girls. So I gave a talk on charity and how it is more than just giving food to the poor but it means you dont talk bad about other people and if you are offended you choose to forgive them. I talked about how being offended is a choice and also a sin. Haha all the people that didnt need to hear the talk said it was the best talk that they have ever heard. They told me that I wasnt a vazaha but a malagasy. Haha but the two girls that needed to hear it didnt have too much to say about it. haha I hope the guilt eats away at them. Well other than that things are going very well. YOu can start to see a lump now on my belly where the baby is. Oh boy.
Love ya,
Elder Madsen
Monday, June 13, 2011
letters for the week
the blog that he is talking about in his letters is http://crazytsblog.blogspot.com if you would like to check it out you are welcome to see.
Hey,
Thanks for getting everyone to write me. I really enjoyed the email. I sure do miss all of you. I cant believe how fast the mission is going, and also how fast life is going. I really enjoyed watching your slide show of all the pictures. It definately took me down memory lane. I definately see why scrapbooks are so meaningful. I sure do miss how simple life used to be. I remembered so much just looking at those pictures. Like trips to park city, or those springs, or sleeping on the tramp with kc, or our old clubhouse. I sometimes I wish that I could go back to how things were back then. Back when life was simple. I Sure do miss all of you. This year I noticed that all I wanted was my family for my birthday. I dont need any present or anything like that. Man I sure do miss you all. Things are going really good though. I am really loving my area and also being Zone Leader. I am trying to do as good of a job as I can. So today we are having a barb q for my birthday. It should be pretty fun. We are going to make cheeseburgers. One of the Elders actually made me ice cream. haha yay. That should be cool. Our muslim girl that we teach actually got me a very cool gift. It is a picture frame with preserved butterflies in it that are only found here in madagascar. I really like it. I just hope that I can get it home. God gave me a great birthday present as well. We had 4 baptisms and 4 brand new people to church this sunday. WOOOO that was way cool. I really hope that we can keep things going here in the ward. We had 193 people to church yesterday. That is the most that I have ever seen here. I was so happy to see all the people there. But we got some new missionaries in. They are all pretty cool. I really enjoy seeing the new missionaries come in. See the excitement on their faces and their desires to serve. Thank you so much for looking into the loan for me. Please tell me if you need any more help or info with that. I really appreciate all that you did for it though. Thanks. And dont worry about the package you are not a crappy mom. You have a full time job. I am suprised that you actually have time to write me every singe week. All I want for my birthday is updated pictures of all of you. That would be awesome. I love pictures more than anything in the world.
Well I better go.
I love you,
Elder Madsen
Hey,
Thanks for getting everyone to write me. I really enjoyed the email. I sure do miss all of you. I cant believe how fast the mission is going, and also how fast life is going. I really enjoyed watching your slide show of all the pictures. It definately took me down memory lane. I definately see why scrapbooks are so meaningful. I sure do miss how simple life used to be. I remembered so much just looking at those pictures. Like trips to park city, or those springs, or sleeping on the tramp with kc, or our old clubhouse. I sometimes I wish that I could go back to how things were back then. Back when life was simple. I Sure do miss all of you. This year I noticed that all I wanted was my family for my birthday. I dont need any present or anything like that. Man I sure do miss you all. Things are going really good though. I am really loving my area and also being Zone Leader. I am trying to do as good of a job as I can. So today we are having a barb q for my birthday. It should be pretty fun. We are going to make cheeseburgers. One of the Elders actually made me ice cream. haha yay. That should be cool. Our muslim girl that we teach actually got me a very cool gift. It is a picture frame with preserved butterflies in it that are only found here in madagascar. I really like it. I just hope that I can get it home. God gave me a great birthday present as well. We had 4 baptisms and 4 brand new people to church this sunday. WOOOO that was way cool. I really hope that we can keep things going here in the ward. We had 193 people to church yesterday. That is the most that I have ever seen here. I was so happy to see all the people there. But we got some new missionaries in. They are all pretty cool. I really enjoy seeing the new missionaries come in. See the excitement on their faces and their desires to serve. Thank you so much for looking into the loan for me. Please tell me if you need any more help or info with that. I really appreciate all that you did for it though. Thanks. And dont worry about the package you are not a crappy mom. You have a full time job. I am suprised that you actually have time to write me every singe week. All I want for my birthday is updated pictures of all of you. That would be awesome. I love pictures more than anything in the world.
Well I better go.
I love you,
Elder Madsen
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The latest video dad sent
One of the things that Jeff likes to do is send a video he has found and share it with Bug. This is a special song that Grandpa Madsen used to sing to us and has memories that are amazing.
updated the blog FINALLY
Ok so there are a bunch of letters from the last couple of months now here on the blog that I have neglected. I will try to figure out pictures missing this week and update them as well.
Some of the emails are a bit down as you will notice. ********, is going through some struggles that are affecting the family pretty strongly and he has found out about some of it during these emails. It has been a struggle for him and for all..but, that is part of a mission, satan needs to attack where ever he can to try and bring down his work... This family will win the fight though!!!! We will stomp him to the ground and learn and grow as best we can each and every day.
Thanks to all of those supporting and helping us through the trials, happiness and excitement of a missionary dedicated to serve the Lord.
We love you Bug,
Tia Ko Be
Mom
mandrakisay Ny fianikavianstika
Some of the emails are a bit down as you will notice. ********, is going through some struggles that are affecting the family pretty strongly and he has found out about some of it during these emails. It has been a struggle for him and for all..but, that is part of a mission, satan needs to attack where ever he can to try and bring down his work... This family will win the fight though!!!! We will stomp him to the ground and learn and grow as best we can each and every day.
Thanks to all of those supporting and helping us through the trials, happiness and excitement of a missionary dedicated to serve the Lord.
We love you Bug,
Tia Ko Be
Mom
mandrakisay Ny fianikavianstika
letter from 4/11/2011
Hey,
Sigh,oh ***. But she did right me this week, she seemed alot happier andto be doing alot better. I hope that she is doing good. Things are going great here. We had a baptism of 5 last Sat. Internet is slow so I will send picturesnext week. I am really loving my area though. It is not as beautiful as Mahajanga, but it is great in its own way. Plus it is going very very good right now. Just last week we had 5 brand new investigators come to church. I am so excited for this area. Things are definately being carried by the hand of the Lord. Well also I did get a change that happened; I got a new companion and they split my area into two areas, because it was just so big and our schedual was too full. I am training a new Elder that just barely got here, his name is Elder ****. He says feel free to look up his mom on Missionary mom or whatever you crazy ladies are doing now days. It might help her get over some stress. That is if you remember what it was like for you when I just got over here. Haha so ya. YOu can be a missionary too right now. He is very cool. He is from SLC and he has a ton of guts. His first night with me I just told him to bear testimony and not to get too stressed, but if he wanted to to feel free to cut in and try to teach what ever he wanted. Well he taught alot. I was very impressed. Also I taught him a new way to teach about prophets and he took it and taught it perfectly that night in a time. I am very impressed with his drive. he will definately make a geat missionary. I have also just been put as Distric Leader. I hope that that goes good. Haha Yikes. But ya things are going good. We got 8 new elders here. They are all very cool, and all seem very motivated. I am also just shocked at how well the area is going. We set 6 more baptism dates this last week. Things are going great . I filled up my second memory card and am working on the 3rd now. Woo. I am not sure if there is anything I need, but a package, and more Black socks, and pictures of christ and alot of the temple to give to people and CTR rings. Other than that I think that I am good. And of course more pictures of the family. I love that more than anything. But Ya things are going great. I have actually not even tried to use my card since south africa so I am not sure if it works or not. I have not needed to use it. Things are going great. I read one of the conference talks and wow it is really good. I was way impressed. We get to watch conference this weekend so I am way excited. Hopefully it will help our investigators get some answers to some prayers. Things are going great here though. Tell everyone that I said hi.
Love Ya,
Elder Madsen
Sigh,oh ***. But she did right me this week, she seemed alot happier andto be doing alot better. I hope that she is doing good. Things are going great here. We had a baptism of 5 last Sat. Internet is slow so I will send picturesnext week. I am really loving my area though. It is not as beautiful as Mahajanga, but it is great in its own way. Plus it is going very very good right now. Just last week we had 5 brand new investigators come to church. I am so excited for this area. Things are definately being carried by the hand of the Lord. Well also I did get a change that happened; I got a new companion and they split my area into two areas, because it was just so big and our schedual was too full. I am training a new Elder that just barely got here, his name is Elder ****. He says feel free to look up his mom on Missionary mom or whatever you crazy ladies are doing now days. It might help her get over some stress. That is if you remember what it was like for you when I just got over here. Haha so ya. YOu can be a missionary too right now. He is very cool. He is from SLC and he has a ton of guts. His first night with me I just told him to bear testimony and not to get too stressed, but if he wanted to to feel free to cut in and try to teach what ever he wanted. Well he taught alot. I was very impressed. Also I taught him a new way to teach about prophets and he took it and taught it perfectly that night in a time. I am very impressed with his drive. he will definately make a geat missionary. I have also just been put as Distric Leader. I hope that that goes good. Haha Yikes. But ya things are going good. We got 8 new elders here. They are all very cool, and all seem very motivated. I am also just shocked at how well the area is going. We set 6 more baptism dates this last week. Things are going great . I filled up my second memory card and am working on the 3rd now. Woo. I am not sure if there is anything I need, but a package, and more Black socks, and pictures of christ and alot of the temple to give to people and CTR rings. Other than that I think that I am good. And of course more pictures of the family. I love that more than anything. But Ya things are going great. I have actually not even tried to use my card since south africa so I am not sure if it works or not. I have not needed to use it. Things are going great. I read one of the conference talks and wow it is really good. I was way impressed. We get to watch conference this weekend so I am way excited. Hopefully it will help our investigators get some answers to some prayers. Things are going great here though. Tell everyone that I said hi.
Love Ya,
Elder Madsen
letter from 4/18/2011 to dad
Dad,
Tell that guy not only yes, but Heck Yes I will take the job. I will try everything that I can to get into the UofU. Holy cow that is just the break that I was looking for. I love SUU but there is no jobs down there. If God gives you a blessing like that then you HAVE to take it. I will look into what I have to do to get accepted into the UofU. I think that I will have to take the ACT again to try and get a better score. But holy cow that job sounds amazing. If the servers really make that much money, I think that I would be interested in starting there as soon as I get home and start making some money then for school. That would even pay for all of the gas too. HOLY POO that is a blessing from God. Yes yes yes, I will transfer schools to get a job like that to help me through school. PLus it will let me be closer to home to which is something that I was worried about. Still ask mom to call SUU and figure stuff out like that just in case, there is no point in burning any bridges too soon. But if that guy is serious, I think that I would be an idiot to not take that offer. Esspecially if the economy is as bad as I am hearing it is. That guy sounds like a way cool guy. How did you get so much on his good side? It sounds like he really likes you and mom for all that he is doing for you all. Dont get on his bad side before I get home. Haha. But seriously dont screw that up. Haha I am sad to hear that Josh and Kassi are so boring. Haha in malagasy they call people like that Bodifotsy Lena. Which means a wet blanket. Hahahaha. If you think about it it makes sense. A wet blanket is a big party pooper. Haha. Things are going really good in my area. We had a baptism of 5 last Sat and we are having another baptism of 5 on this Sat. The work is going really good. We are definately seeing the hand of the Lord in our area right now. Haha it was crazy we went into a time last night of a family of 5. The father will never learn with us, and he doesnt really want anything to do with the church. Well they havent been doing their commitments and so I was planning on giving them a drop talk for the time. Well one thing lead to another, and I ended up setting bap dates with all of them including the dad. haha it was really crazy definately the hand of the Lord in that one. But things are great. My kid is way cool. He fixes up old cars just like you. He says he has never missed a cache valley cruising in his life. haha he also has his own pin striping buisness. I am sapposed to give you the website to check out his work. I still havent seen it, so you will have to tell me if it is any cool. The website is http://scottysstripes.blogspot.com So ya, you should let me know if it is anything worth checking out. Well I hope things are going good. Tell that man yes yes yes and a thousand times yes. Save me the spot and I will take it in a heartbeat.
But ya, love your guts,
Elder Madsen
Tell that guy not only yes, but Heck Yes I will take the job. I will try everything that I can to get into the UofU. Holy cow that is just the break that I was looking for. I love SUU but there is no jobs down there. If God gives you a blessing like that then you HAVE to take it. I will look into what I have to do to get accepted into the UofU. I think that I will have to take the ACT again to try and get a better score. But holy cow that job sounds amazing. If the servers really make that much money, I think that I would be interested in starting there as soon as I get home and start making some money then for school. That would even pay for all of the gas too. HOLY POO that is a blessing from God. Yes yes yes, I will transfer schools to get a job like that to help me through school. PLus it will let me be closer to home to which is something that I was worried about. Still ask mom to call SUU and figure stuff out like that just in case, there is no point in burning any bridges too soon. But if that guy is serious, I think that I would be an idiot to not take that offer. Esspecially if the economy is as bad as I am hearing it is. That guy sounds like a way cool guy. How did you get so much on his good side? It sounds like he really likes you and mom for all that he is doing for you all. Dont get on his bad side before I get home. Haha. But seriously dont screw that up. Haha I am sad to hear that Josh and Kassi are so boring. Haha in malagasy they call people like that Bodifotsy Lena. Which means a wet blanket. Hahahaha. If you think about it it makes sense. A wet blanket is a big party pooper. Haha. Things are going really good in my area. We had a baptism of 5 last Sat and we are having another baptism of 5 on this Sat. The work is going really good. We are definately seeing the hand of the Lord in our area right now. Haha it was crazy we went into a time last night of a family of 5. The father will never learn with us, and he doesnt really want anything to do with the church. Well they havent been doing their commitments and so I was planning on giving them a drop talk for the time. Well one thing lead to another, and I ended up setting bap dates with all of them including the dad. haha it was really crazy definately the hand of the Lord in that one. But things are great. My kid is way cool. He fixes up old cars just like you. He says he has never missed a cache valley cruising in his life. haha he also has his own pin striping buisness. I am sapposed to give you the website to check out his work. I still havent seen it, so you will have to tell me if it is any cool. The website is http://scottysstripes.blogspot.com So ya, you should let me know if it is anything worth checking out. Well I hope things are going good. Tell that man yes yes yes and a thousand times yes. Save me the spot and I will take it in a heartbeat.
But ya, love your guts,
Elder Madsen
week of 4/18/2011
Hey,
How are you doing? I am doing very very good. Things are going great with the area. My kid is way cool. He is a great missionary and a very hard worker. And I kicked his butt in Monopoly last night. haha. I still got it. But he is very cool. I have been very blessed my entire mission for my companions and for my areas. Haha so you are reading *************blog. haha how is that? Haha ya... he is ........ cool. Ha no he is a good Elder. He has definately come a long way on his mission which is way cool to see the change in people. Including myself. I am completely embarressed when I think about some of the stupid things that I would do before the mission or when I first came into country. haha, but that is what makes the growth so cool. If you cant learn to laugh at yourself then something is wrong.
So holy cow, if that guy is serious about the job, tell him I say yes yes yes a thousand times yes. I will transfer to the UofU if I have to I dont care. I can start looking into that when I get home, but if he is serious, then I would love to start as soon as I get home. I think that even driving there every day, if the pay is really that much, I could still make some good money. Holy cow that is a blessing from God, and I think that I would be an idiot for not taking it. Plus the U of U is alot closer to home than SUU. Esspecially since listening to conference last week, I dont think that I am going to be doing very much goofing around when I get home, but I got to start looking into the next chapter of my life. Wow that was wierd to say. . . . and very frightening. But I trust in the prophet and know that I cant sit a procrastinate on things like that. But man I am scared as poo to date, let alone look for a wife. I feel way too young. But I think that when I get home, I got to get going on school and find a job, and yes Mar. . . doing that other stuff that the prophet says to do but I am too scared to say it. Haha if you are catching those insignuations. But ya change of subject please. So yes please tell him that I would be extremely interested into transferring schools if he is serious about giving me the job. However I would not feel comfortable transfering if he doesnt mean it. But please still call SUU and find out about scholarships. There is no use in buring bridges before we even get there. We better keep all of our options open at the moment. But if you do have some free time maybe you and dad could send me some info on the surrounding schools and on their pre med programs, and also on the admmittance requirements. I think that I will have to take the ACT again in order to get some scholarships. or to even get in, but I am not sure. I would look myself but we are not sapposed to be surfing the internet and I am really pushing the obedience right now, because I need as much help from the lord as I can get. But ya I would love you forever if you could do that for me.
That is true that we have a very strange family, but I would have it no other way. Even the prophets of old had disfunctional families. Conference was amazing. I dont know if you have hear or listened to the Sunday afternoon session but there is a talk that is about teaching to be and not to do. But wow I think that was Gods message to our family. There was a quote in it that I loved. It was talking about difficult children, and how they actually help our own testimonies, and help us to achieve godliness. He said, I think that we need that difficult child more than they need us. If definately opened my eyes up. But I know that is true. Things are hard, but wow look at the growth that you and dad have made in this last year. YOu are both so much stronger in the gospel. SO much wiser in the gosple. So much more, because of the hardships you have gone through. I know that that is a blessing from God. I know that it is to help you and dad to continue to grow. I reccomend the talk if you have not heard it, but I also encourage you to take a second look to it. I was very touched with the talk. Just like Elder Holland says, if we listen with the spirit we will always see Gods personal message for us, every single conference. how true that is. how blessed are we to have a prophet of the Lord to give us personal 101. I loved conference; but it was too short. I want more. haha I was so sad when it was over.
So we have an investigator that has a little seven year old daughter that is blind. Well I noticed that the little girl is not just blind but that her eyes are buldging out. So I started to ask around and it was crazy how the Lord prepared the way. I found a doctor that works with the Lions Club that would see her for free, and also a school that would teach her for free. Looking back, I am not quite sure how I found it. But I must say it was the greatest blessing to see the tears in the mothers eyes as the school told her that they would teach the girl for free, and would help her learn how to function on her own and to learn how to read and become a normal person. The doctors was not a fun trip though. It was definately a head ache, but we did get the girl looked at. She has water that is filling in her eyes, and she needs to get a surgery that will remove the water. I think that the church might help us with this poor little girl, but I am not sure. But ya, that is what I did this week. That and conference. Also it was way cool, we had 21 investigators come to conference yesterday. I was so happy. The Lord is definately guiding this work here. It is not my work, but it is his. But man it is going by quick.
Well love your guts,
Elder Madsen
How are you doing? I am doing very very good. Things are going great with the area. My kid is way cool. He is a great missionary and a very hard worker. And I kicked his butt in Monopoly last night. haha. I still got it. But he is very cool. I have been very blessed my entire mission for my companions and for my areas. Haha so you are reading *************blog. haha how is that? Haha ya... he is ........ cool. Ha no he is a good Elder. He has definately come a long way on his mission which is way cool to see the change in people. Including myself. I am completely embarressed when I think about some of the stupid things that I would do before the mission or when I first came into country. haha, but that is what makes the growth so cool. If you cant learn to laugh at yourself then something is wrong.
So holy cow, if that guy is serious about the job, tell him I say yes yes yes a thousand times yes. I will transfer to the UofU if I have to I dont care. I can start looking into that when I get home, but if he is serious, then I would love to start as soon as I get home. I think that even driving there every day, if the pay is really that much, I could still make some good money. Holy cow that is a blessing from God, and I think that I would be an idiot for not taking it. Plus the U of U is alot closer to home than SUU. Esspecially since listening to conference last week, I dont think that I am going to be doing very much goofing around when I get home, but I got to start looking into the next chapter of my life. Wow that was wierd to say. . . . and very frightening. But I trust in the prophet and know that I cant sit a procrastinate on things like that. But man I am scared as poo to date, let alone look for a wife. I feel way too young. But I think that when I get home, I got to get going on school and find a job, and yes Mar. . . doing that other stuff that the prophet says to do but I am too scared to say it. Haha if you are catching those insignuations. But ya change of subject please. So yes please tell him that I would be extremely interested into transferring schools if he is serious about giving me the job. However I would not feel comfortable transfering if he doesnt mean it. But please still call SUU and find out about scholarships. There is no use in buring bridges before we even get there. We better keep all of our options open at the moment. But if you do have some free time maybe you and dad could send me some info on the surrounding schools and on their pre med programs, and also on the admmittance requirements. I think that I will have to take the ACT again in order to get some scholarships. or to even get in, but I am not sure. I would look myself but we are not sapposed to be surfing the internet and I am really pushing the obedience right now, because I need as much help from the lord as I can get. But ya I would love you forever if you could do that for me.
That is true that we have a very strange family, but I would have it no other way. Even the prophets of old had disfunctional families. Conference was amazing. I dont know if you have hear or listened to the Sunday afternoon session but there is a talk that is about teaching to be and not to do. But wow I think that was Gods message to our family. There was a quote in it that I loved. It was talking about difficult children, and how they actually help our own testimonies, and help us to achieve godliness. He said, I think that we need that difficult child more than they need us. If definately opened my eyes up. But I know that is true. Things are hard, but wow look at the growth that you and dad have made in this last year. YOu are both so much stronger in the gospel. SO much wiser in the gosple. So much more, because of the hardships you have gone through. I know that that is a blessing from God. I know that it is to help you and dad to continue to grow. I reccomend the talk if you have not heard it, but I also encourage you to take a second look to it. I was very touched with the talk. Just like Elder Holland says, if we listen with the spirit we will always see Gods personal message for us, every single conference. how true that is. how blessed are we to have a prophet of the Lord to give us personal 101. I loved conference; but it was too short. I want more. haha I was so sad when it was over.
So we have an investigator that has a little seven year old daughter that is blind. Well I noticed that the little girl is not just blind but that her eyes are buldging out. So I started to ask around and it was crazy how the Lord prepared the way. I found a doctor that works with the Lions Club that would see her for free, and also a school that would teach her for free. Looking back, I am not quite sure how I found it. But I must say it was the greatest blessing to see the tears in the mothers eyes as the school told her that they would teach the girl for free, and would help her learn how to function on her own and to learn how to read and become a normal person. The doctors was not a fun trip though. It was definately a head ache, but we did get the girl looked at. She has water that is filling in her eyes, and she needs to get a surgery that will remove the water. I think that the church might help us with this poor little girl, but I am not sure. But ya, that is what I did this week. That and conference. Also it was way cool, we had 21 investigators come to conference yesterday. I was so happy. The Lord is definately guiding this work here. It is not my work, but it is his. But man it is going by quick.
Well love your guts,
Elder Madsen
letter from May 16, 2011
Hey,
How are you doing? Ya dad gave me the update of ****. Where is she even staying now? I heard that she got kicked out of Bonnie and Clydes? So where is she at? I cant believe all that happened. Did she take mumu with her? Or is mumu still at the house? I hope that she is going to be able to find her way. This is way hard to see, but I cant imagine how hard is it for you. I hope that you are doing ok. I have been having some wierd feelings all week. They started about friday so it makes alot of sense now that I hear about all that is going on. I hope you are still doing ok. You are such a strong person. I admire your strength and you patience. I dont think that I would be able to be as strong as you are. I really do miss you all. This has been a harder week for me. Just because I couldnt stop thinking about all of you. It is wierd. I know that I am almost done; but for some reason I have been really wanting to see you all this week. I hope that I can get back to focusing on the mission again though. Haha the time sure does go by alot faster that way. I really think that **** moving out will be a blessing for you all though. I think that it will help Josh and Kassi and you and dad as well. I know that God is still watching over all of you. Just be strong, and trust him. He will guide you through this. Dont worry she will be ok. I think that this is what she needs in order to wake up. Once she is on her own, then she will see how much more difficult it is too pay for everything and to take care of everything. I just pray she will wake up. Man this sucks so bad. IN her emails she just says that she is as happy as can be. It sucks that she moved out right before her birthday. I am alittle scared for her, but I trust in the Lord. I know that he will guide her.
Well enough of that!!! We had a baptism last sat. It was pretty nice. I quite enjoyed it. Also we set four bapdates yesterday. I was so happy. It is cool to see the change in people as they accept the gospel. I know that the church is true. It changes people and makes them into something glorious. I cant wait to see how this ward goes. We have another Baptism on the 28th and then on the 4rth and the 11th of June, so that will be really cool to see. Yesterday at church we had 30 investigators come. Wow it was way cool. I was so humbled to see that. I am so greatful for the Lord in my life. I am so greatful for the change that I have seen in my life and in my character. I am also greatful for the love that he has shown to my family. I am so happy to see the growth in you and dad and nanan and trevor and in Josh and Kassi. I know that God is with you and helping you. I am so greatful to have you as a mom. I was just thinking about how we would get Jamba juices together, or those days when we would just snooze in your bed. I really want you to know how thankful I am for you. YOu are such a good example to me. And I want to appologize for all the times that I causeedyou grief of doubted you or went against what you had said. I hope that you will forgive me for the brat that I was. I am so sorry. I hope that I can make it up to you.
Love,
Elder Madsen
How are you doing? Ya dad gave me the update of ****. Where is she even staying now? I heard that she got kicked out of Bonnie and Clydes? So where is she at? I cant believe all that happened. Did she take mumu with her? Or is mumu still at the house? I hope that she is going to be able to find her way. This is way hard to see, but I cant imagine how hard is it for you. I hope that you are doing ok. I have been having some wierd feelings all week. They started about friday so it makes alot of sense now that I hear about all that is going on. I hope you are still doing ok. You are such a strong person. I admire your strength and you patience. I dont think that I would be able to be as strong as you are. I really do miss you all. This has been a harder week for me. Just because I couldnt stop thinking about all of you. It is wierd. I know that I am almost done; but for some reason I have been really wanting to see you all this week. I hope that I can get back to focusing on the mission again though. Haha the time sure does go by alot faster that way. I really think that **** moving out will be a blessing for you all though. I think that it will help Josh and Kassi and you and dad as well. I know that God is still watching over all of you. Just be strong, and trust him. He will guide you through this. Dont worry she will be ok. I think that this is what she needs in order to wake up. Once she is on her own, then she will see how much more difficult it is too pay for everything and to take care of everything. I just pray she will wake up. Man this sucks so bad. IN her emails she just says that she is as happy as can be. It sucks that she moved out right before her birthday. I am alittle scared for her, but I trust in the Lord. I know that he will guide her.
Well enough of that!!! We had a baptism last sat. It was pretty nice. I quite enjoyed it. Also we set four bapdates yesterday. I was so happy. It is cool to see the change in people as they accept the gospel. I know that the church is true. It changes people and makes them into something glorious. I cant wait to see how this ward goes. We have another Baptism on the 28th and then on the 4rth and the 11th of June, so that will be really cool to see. Yesterday at church we had 30 investigators come. Wow it was way cool. I was so humbled to see that. I am so greatful for the Lord in my life. I am so greatful for the change that I have seen in my life and in my character. I am also greatful for the love that he has shown to my family. I am so happy to see the growth in you and dad and nanan and trevor and in Josh and Kassi. I know that God is with you and helping you. I am so greatful to have you as a mom. I was just thinking about how we would get Jamba juices together, or those days when we would just snooze in your bed. I really want you to know how thankful I am for you. YOu are such a good example to me. And I want to appologize for all the times that I causeedyou grief of doubted you or went against what you had said. I hope that you will forgive me for the brat that I was. I am so sorry. I hope that I can make it up to you.
Love,
Elder Madsen
letter from May 23, 2011
Hey,
I am glad that you made it ok, and that your surgery went good. Haha with all that stress it sounds like San Diego will do you some good. That sounds like it would be a fun trip. I am sorry I have sinned I wrote *** back, but I told the APs and they told me good job. So .... sorry. But it did make my day. I hope that things are going better. I have just been really worried that ** didnt have a place to stay. That is why I was worried. But if she has got a roof over her head and some food then I guess that she will be ok. It has been really hard, but things are still going good. I am used to being DL that is not really hard at all. I just do baptism interviews and hold meeting once a week. So ya not too big of a thing. But it is fun. Things are going very good in my ward. There are 6 people getting baptised this Sat. They all passed their interviews last week. So that is good. Ugh there has been a ton of drama in the ward between two girls. That has not been fun. They both help us, so we hear about both sides of the story. ALl I can say is people get caught up on the smallest stupidest things. It is really not worth it at all. I wish some people could just forgive and forget. THat would definately make life a heck of alot easier. THat is for sure.
So there will be a transfer in two weeks. I do not know if I will be leaving or if I will be staying. But I am excited to see what happens. I love my ward, but I have been in the capital for almost a year now. I would really like to go and see province again. BUt hey we will see what the Lord wants. So my favorite family is going to get baptised on the 4 of June. I am so excited. They are getting their marriage done this week.
Plus one of the kids that we are teaching is going to be getting baptised this week as well. His name is ***. He is about 19 and he is way cool. HE has completely stop smoking in just two weeks and he was smoking 2 packs a day before. It is really cool to see the growth in people because of the church. It is crazy I was looking at *** the other day. The kid that we baptised last April. He used to be such a lazy kid. Now he is asking us every day if he can help. It is almost annoying he wants to help so much. But it is so good; I love to see that change in people. I know that this church is true. Only in this church do you see such a growth and change in the lives of the people that are seeking to be closer to Christ. The gospel always brings change to people who have a contrite heart. I constantly pray that I can continue to be changed and shaped by the Lord; I want to become something beautiful in his eyes. I am still someone who has mistakes and weaknesses. And it makes me sad at how I must disapoint him sometimes. But I pray that someday I can become what he wants me to be. I hope that I can be shaped by him. Let us all be shaped by our savior. It is never easy, but when we allow him to shape us through our trials and our weaknesses, then we can become something great.
Love you,
Elder Madsen
I am glad that you made it ok, and that your surgery went good. Haha with all that stress it sounds like San Diego will do you some good. That sounds like it would be a fun trip. I am sorry I have sinned I wrote *** back, but I told the APs and they told me good job. So .... sorry. But it did make my day. I hope that things are going better. I have just been really worried that ** didnt have a place to stay. That is why I was worried. But if she has got a roof over her head and some food then I guess that she will be ok. It has been really hard, but things are still going good. I am used to being DL that is not really hard at all. I just do baptism interviews and hold meeting once a week. So ya not too big of a thing. But it is fun. Things are going very good in my ward. There are 6 people getting baptised this Sat. They all passed their interviews last week. So that is good. Ugh there has been a ton of drama in the ward between two girls. That has not been fun. They both help us, so we hear about both sides of the story. ALl I can say is people get caught up on the smallest stupidest things. It is really not worth it at all. I wish some people could just forgive and forget. THat would definately make life a heck of alot easier. THat is for sure.
So there will be a transfer in two weeks. I do not know if I will be leaving or if I will be staying. But I am excited to see what happens. I love my ward, but I have been in the capital for almost a year now. I would really like to go and see province again. BUt hey we will see what the Lord wants. So my favorite family is going to get baptised on the 4 of June. I am so excited. They are getting their marriage done this week.
Plus one of the kids that we are teaching is going to be getting baptised this week as well. His name is ***. He is about 19 and he is way cool. HE has completely stop smoking in just two weeks and he was smoking 2 packs a day before. It is really cool to see the growth in people because of the church. It is crazy I was looking at *** the other day. The kid that we baptised last April. He used to be such a lazy kid. Now he is asking us every day if he can help. It is almost annoying he wants to help so much. But it is so good; I love to see that change in people. I know that this church is true. Only in this church do you see such a growth and change in the lives of the people that are seeking to be closer to Christ. The gospel always brings change to people who have a contrite heart. I constantly pray that I can continue to be changed and shaped by the Lord; I want to become something beautiful in his eyes. I am still someone who has mistakes and weaknesses. And it makes me sad at how I must disapoint him sometimes. But I pray that someday I can become what he wants me to be. I hope that I can be shaped by him. Let us all be shaped by our savior. It is never easy, but when we allow him to shape us through our trials and our weaknesses, then we can become something great.
Love you,
Elder Madsen
letter from May 30, 2011
Hey,
Man, I wish that I had your strength. I honestly dont know how you do it. I just feel so inadaquate some days but you have so much strength and courage. I hope that I can be half as strong of a parent as you when I get kids. I am sorry that California wasnt the funnest. If you ever take me, trust me, I will make it fun. Hahaha oh you can count on that. We could do Disneyland together. I will go on the Winney the Poo ride with you if you promise to hold my hand during the scary parts. Haha. Well at least ** is seeing that the people who she thought "loved her for who she was" isnt quite what she thought. I know that she will come back. Dont worry. It just takes time.
Lets just focus on the good. Number one, I got permission to write ***. WOOOO!!! Number two, we had a baptism last sat. There Were 6 people that got baptised. It was such a beautiful baptism. One of the boys was named ***. He is 17, I feel like he is my special project. Haha He used to smoke 2 pacs of cigarettes a day, but He gave it all up so that he could be baptised. I have just been reflecting on the gospel and seeing how it changes someone who is bound by an addiction like the ciggarettes and changes him into someone that is going around with the missionaries to help them teach before they are even baptised. I was wondering what it is that makes that change. Then I saw in Mosiah 5 verse 2. The spirit. That is what brings that change of heart. We are being changed by the Lord and by his hand. That is what brings us closer to him. We need to be transformed by his hand. That is what this life is for.
One thing that touched me the other day, I was reading in Jesus the Christ about the ressurection. It talked about when Mary discovered that the Savior wasnt there. She sat and she wept. It was very touching to read about her love for the savior. He was then taken from her and killed. Well the one thing that she had left to remember him by was his body, but then that too was taken from her, and she sat there staring into an empty tomb. Angels came and asked her, Why seek the living among the dead. He is not here. It made me think of the picture that I gave you almost a year and a half ago. Even with angels there she was distraught because her whole life was falling apart. It made me think of you. All the things that are happening in your life. You might feel like Mary; Like everything is gone. But there came a man who asked, Why weepest thou? She then precedes to ask where his body is, but then he says something that is the most touching. He calls her by name. The saviour loves you. You are not alone. He is not gone, but the master is still there. Even if you feel that your life is falling apart, but it is not all lost. Through the Saviour we will all find Salvation. We will recieve repentence. I know this to be true. So now that you look up at that picture on the wall maybe it can take on a new meaning for you. Instead of thinking of me, maybe you can see the joy that comes from the ressurection. And know that *** will be ok.
So this week I went to a leadership training and we watched a video from Jefferey R Holland. I loved it. He was addressing the fact that so many missionaries were going home and going inactive. He said that something is wrong with that. He then told of the last chapter in the book of John. Where Peter had gone back to fishing. He didnt know what else to do, so he went to what he did before he met Christ. That was fishing. Well when the saviour came he asked. Do you love me? He asked it three times. Each time Peter said yes but the savior said. Feed my sheep. If we love the savior then we need to show it. He did not say follow me for just two years when he said follow me he meant follow me forever. It really opened my eyes. My mission is not for two years it is forever. I cannot go back to a life I lived before, but I need to follow him. I cannot go back to old cds or old habits, but continue to grow. The mission is just the start of my life in the gospel. I am excited to see what the future holds for me.
Well I love you,
Elder Madsen
Man, I wish that I had your strength. I honestly dont know how you do it. I just feel so inadaquate some days but you have so much strength and courage. I hope that I can be half as strong of a parent as you when I get kids. I am sorry that California wasnt the funnest. If you ever take me, trust me, I will make it fun. Hahaha oh you can count on that. We could do Disneyland together. I will go on the Winney the Poo ride with you if you promise to hold my hand during the scary parts. Haha. Well at least ** is seeing that the people who she thought "loved her for who she was" isnt quite what she thought. I know that she will come back. Dont worry. It just takes time.
Lets just focus on the good. Number one, I got permission to write ***. WOOOO!!! Number two, we had a baptism last sat. There Were 6 people that got baptised. It was such a beautiful baptism. One of the boys was named ***. He is 17, I feel like he is my special project. Haha He used to smoke 2 pacs of cigarettes a day, but He gave it all up so that he could be baptised. I have just been reflecting on the gospel and seeing how it changes someone who is bound by an addiction like the ciggarettes and changes him into someone that is going around with the missionaries to help them teach before they are even baptised. I was wondering what it is that makes that change. Then I saw in Mosiah 5 verse 2. The spirit. That is what brings that change of heart. We are being changed by the Lord and by his hand. That is what brings us closer to him. We need to be transformed by his hand. That is what this life is for.
One thing that touched me the other day, I was reading in Jesus the Christ about the ressurection. It talked about when Mary discovered that the Savior wasnt there. She sat and she wept. It was very touching to read about her love for the savior. He was then taken from her and killed. Well the one thing that she had left to remember him by was his body, but then that too was taken from her, and she sat there staring into an empty tomb. Angels came and asked her, Why seek the living among the dead. He is not here. It made me think of the picture that I gave you almost a year and a half ago. Even with angels there she was distraught because her whole life was falling apart. It made me think of you. All the things that are happening in your life. You might feel like Mary; Like everything is gone. But there came a man who asked, Why weepest thou? She then precedes to ask where his body is, but then he says something that is the most touching. He calls her by name. The saviour loves you. You are not alone. He is not gone, but the master is still there. Even if you feel that your life is falling apart, but it is not all lost. Through the Saviour we will all find Salvation. We will recieve repentence. I know this to be true. So now that you look up at that picture on the wall maybe it can take on a new meaning for you. Instead of thinking of me, maybe you can see the joy that comes from the ressurection. And know that *** will be ok.
So this week I went to a leadership training and we watched a video from Jefferey R Holland. I loved it. He was addressing the fact that so many missionaries were going home and going inactive. He said that something is wrong with that. He then told of the last chapter in the book of John. Where Peter had gone back to fishing. He didnt know what else to do, so he went to what he did before he met Christ. That was fishing. Well when the saviour came he asked. Do you love me? He asked it three times. Each time Peter said yes but the savior said. Feed my sheep. If we love the savior then we need to show it. He did not say follow me for just two years when he said follow me he meant follow me forever. It really opened my eyes. My mission is not for two years it is forever. I cannot go back to a life I lived before, but I need to follow him. I cannot go back to old cds or old habits, but continue to grow. The mission is just the start of my life in the gospel. I am excited to see what the future holds for me.
Well I love you,
Elder Madsen
Letter this week..June 6th 2011
Hey,
How is everything going? I am glad that you are feeling better. I loved the pictures from san diego. Man the kids are getting big. They are no longer little kids anymore that is for sure. Wow it is wierd at how fast they are growing. I hope that you are doing good though. How is ** doing this week. Is she still at home or did she move our again?
So I got an email from the fed loans that says that my payment is 7 days past due. Do you know if you could contact them and see if they can extend it again. Do they know that I am still in madagascar? I was wondering if you could check on that for me. It just warns me about my credit score. I was wondering if you could help me out with that. The file is in the trash on my email. I can forward it to you. if you would like. I will forward it to you and dad. I would try to take care off it but I am not quite sure of what I would need to do to extend that. But yabus. Just let me know if you need any more information on that. Ugh sometimes I wish I never would have gone to school before the mission. It is such a hassel some times.
Well things are going good. I have just been made the Zone Leader for the North half of the capital. I was very nervous when I was told this, but I think that it will be ok. I am slowly getting a grasp of things. Because of all of our baptisms recently we are now out of investigators. They half almost all been baptise. Haha so we are doing a ton of finding right now. I am hoping that we will be able to find alot of people this week. Man, this ward though has alot of drama. Manly between girls fighting. But because of it some of our people has stopped helping us; It is such a hassel. I wish that people would not get upset or offended at stupid little things and try to focus on the good. When people allow themselves to get upset they lose focus of what the real important things are. ***made a comment the other day that was really interesting. He said it is our choice to be offended, and it is actually a sin to allow ourselves to be offended. Esspecially when nothing negative was intented. I am hoping that we can figure everything out about it.
So I was noticing the change in one of our investigators the other day. his name is ***. he is about 14 years old. When he was baptised his mom was pretty much forcing him to come to church every single week. You could tell that he really didnt want to be there, but his mom was making him. Well he just got the priesthood about one month ago. I saw the mom and his sister come in for church yesterday and noticed that ***** was not with him. I was worried wondering where he was. Well when the sacriment came I noticed that it was him that passed the sacriment to me. I noticed that for the last three weeks. he has not only passed the sacriment, but he has been coming early to church by himself every week just so he can have the opportunity to serve. I was humbled at the change that I saw in him. He changed from being forced to come to church every week, to him leading his family to church as an example. I am so excited to see the change in my own life when I get home. It was really wierd Elder **** went home this week. He was my trainer in country. It was so wierd to see him leave. I am starting to see really how little time I have left before I come home. It scares me to death. I really have only one or two more areas left. Wow that is crazy.
Well tell any of the girls at your work....if they are cute..... that they are allowed to write me. I have not really gotten any letters from anyone. They can also send packages if they want. My birthday is this sunday. Crazy huh? I will be 21 woa. That is so wierd. I cant believe that. I am starting to get old.
Well I will forward that one email that I got. If you know anything that I need to do let me know. But I love you. Look forward to hearing from you next week.
Love,
Elder Madsen
How is everything going? I am glad that you are feeling better. I loved the pictures from san diego. Man the kids are getting big. They are no longer little kids anymore that is for sure. Wow it is wierd at how fast they are growing. I hope that you are doing good though. How is ** doing this week. Is she still at home or did she move our again?
So I got an email from the fed loans that says that my payment is 7 days past due. Do you know if you could contact them and see if they can extend it again. Do they know that I am still in madagascar? I was wondering if you could check on that for me. It just warns me about my credit score. I was wondering if you could help me out with that. The file is in the trash on my email. I can forward it to you. if you would like. I will forward it to you and dad. I would try to take care off it but I am not quite sure of what I would need to do to extend that. But yabus. Just let me know if you need any more information on that. Ugh sometimes I wish I never would have gone to school before the mission. It is such a hassel some times.
Well things are going good. I have just been made the Zone Leader for the North half of the capital. I was very nervous when I was told this, but I think that it will be ok. I am slowly getting a grasp of things. Because of all of our baptisms recently we are now out of investigators. They half almost all been baptise. Haha so we are doing a ton of finding right now. I am hoping that we will be able to find alot of people this week. Man, this ward though has alot of drama. Manly between girls fighting. But because of it some of our people has stopped helping us; It is such a hassel. I wish that people would not get upset or offended at stupid little things and try to focus on the good. When people allow themselves to get upset they lose focus of what the real important things are. ***made a comment the other day that was really interesting. He said it is our choice to be offended, and it is actually a sin to allow ourselves to be offended. Esspecially when nothing negative was intented. I am hoping that we can figure everything out about it.
So I was noticing the change in one of our investigators the other day. his name is ***. he is about 14 years old. When he was baptised his mom was pretty much forcing him to come to church every single week. You could tell that he really didnt want to be there, but his mom was making him. Well he just got the priesthood about one month ago. I saw the mom and his sister come in for church yesterday and noticed that ***** was not with him. I was worried wondering where he was. Well when the sacriment came I noticed that it was him that passed the sacriment to me. I noticed that for the last three weeks. he has not only passed the sacriment, but he has been coming early to church by himself every week just so he can have the opportunity to serve. I was humbled at the change that I saw in him. He changed from being forced to come to church every week, to him leading his family to church as an example. I am so excited to see the change in my own life when I get home. It was really wierd Elder **** went home this week. He was my trainer in country. It was so wierd to see him leave. I am starting to see really how little time I have left before I come home. It scares me to death. I really have only one or two more areas left. Wow that is crazy.
Well tell any of the girls at your work....if they are cute..... that they are allowed to write me. I have not really gotten any letters from anyone. They can also send packages if they want. My birthday is this sunday. Crazy huh? I will be 21 woa. That is so wierd. I cant believe that. I am starting to get old.
Well I will forward that one email that I got. If you know anything that I need to do let me know. But I love you. Look forward to hearing from you next week.
Love,
Elder Madsen
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Spiders...
Don't worry mom, it's not that poisonous!!! Other photo is overlooking his area..
Here is his last letter:
Hey, Things are going great here. We had a baptism of 5 last Sat. Internet is slow so I will send picturesnext week. I am really loving my area though. It is not as beautiful as Mahajanga, but it is great in its own way. Plus it is going very very good right now. Just last week we had 5 brand new investigators come to church. I am so excited for this area. Things are definately being carried by the hand of the Lord. Well also I did get a change that happened; I got a new companion and they split my area into two areas, because it was just so big and our schedual was too full. I am training a new Elder that just barely got here, his name is Elder ***. He says feel free to look up his mom on Missionary mom or whatever you crazy ladies are doing now days. It might help her get over some stress. That is if you remember what it was like for you when I just got over here. Haha so ya. YOu can be a missionary too right now. He is very cool. He is from SLC and he has a ton of guts. His first night with me I just told him to bear testimony and not to get too stressed, but if he wanted to to feel free to cut in and try to teach what ever he wanted. Well he taught alot. I was very impressed. Also I taught him a new way to teach about prophets and he took it and taught it perfectly that night in a time. I am very impressed with his drive. he will definately make a geat missionary. I have also just been put as Distric Leader. I hope that that goes good. Haha Yikes. But ya things are going good. We got 8 new elders here. They are all very cool, and all seem very motivated. I am also just shocked at how well the area is going. We set 6 more baptism dates this last week. Things are going great . I filled up my second memory card and am working on the 3rd now. Woo. I am not sure if there is anything I need, but a package, and more Black socks, and pictures of christ and alot of the temple to give to people and CTR rings. Other than that I think that I am good. And of course more pictures of the family. I love that more than anything. But Ya things are going great. I have actually not even tried to use my card since south africa so I am not sure if it works or not. I have not needed to use it. Things are going great. I read one of the conference talks and wow it is really good. I was way impressed. We get to watch conference this weekend so I am way excited. Hopefully it will help our investigators get some answers to some prayers. Things are going great here though. Tell everyone that I said hi.
Love Ya,
Elder Madsen
Monday, April 11, 2011
Added and update
I did another scrapbook page for Bug today and here is his letter home this week.
Hey,
Sigh,oh **. But she did right me this week, she seemed alot happier andto be doing alot better. I hope that she is doing good. Things are going great here. We had a baptism of 5 last Sat. Internet is slow so I will send picturesnext week. I am really loving my area though. It is not as beautiful as Mahajanga, but it is great in its own way. Plus it is going very very good right now. Just last week we had 5 brand new investigators come to church. I am so excited for this area. Things are definately being carried by the hand of the Lord. Well also I did get a change that happened; I got a new companion and they split my area into two areas, because it was just so big and our schedual was too full. I am training a new Elder that just barely got here, his name is Elder ***. He says feel free to look up his mom on Missionary mom or whatever you crazy ladies are doing now days. It might help her get over some stress. That is if you remember what it was like for you when I just got over here. Haha so ya. YOu can be a missionary too right now. He is very cool. He is from SLC and he has a ton of guts. His first night with me I just told him to bear testimony and not to get too stressed, but if he wanted to to feel free to cut in and try to teach what ever he wanted. Well he taught alot. I was very impressed. Also I taught him a new way to teach about prophets and he took it and taught it perfectly that night in a time. I am very impressed with his drive. he will definately make a geat missionary. I have also just been put as Distric Leader. I hope that that goes good. Haha Yikes. But ya things are going good. We got 8 new elders here. They are all very cool, and all seem very motivated. I am also just shocked at how well the area is going. We set 6 more baptism dates this last week. Things are going great . I filled up my second memory card and am working on the 3rd now. Woo. I am not sure if there is anything I need, but a package, and more Black socks, and pictures of christ and alot of the temple to give to people and CTR rings. Other than that I think that I am good. And of course more pictures of the family. I love that more than anything. But Ya things are going great. I have actually not even tried to use my card since south africa so I am not sure if it works or not. I have not needed to use it. Things are going great. I read one of the conference talks and wow it is really good. I was way impressed. We get to watch conference this weekend so I am way excited. Hopefully it will help our investigators get some answers to some prayers. Things are going great here though. Tell everyone that I said hi.
Love Ya,
Elder Madsen
Hey,
Sigh,oh **. But she did right me this week, she seemed alot happier andto be doing alot better. I hope that she is doing good. Things are going great here. We had a baptism of 5 last Sat. Internet is slow so I will send picturesnext week. I am really loving my area though. It is not as beautiful as Mahajanga, but it is great in its own way. Plus it is going very very good right now. Just last week we had 5 brand new investigators come to church. I am so excited for this area. Things are definately being carried by the hand of the Lord. Well also I did get a change that happened; I got a new companion and they split my area into two areas, because it was just so big and our schedual was too full. I am training a new Elder that just barely got here, his name is Elder ***. He says feel free to look up his mom on Missionary mom or whatever you crazy ladies are doing now days. It might help her get over some stress. That is if you remember what it was like for you when I just got over here. Haha so ya. YOu can be a missionary too right now. He is very cool. He is from SLC and he has a ton of guts. His first night with me I just told him to bear testimony and not to get too stressed, but if he wanted to to feel free to cut in and try to teach what ever he wanted. Well he taught alot. I was very impressed. Also I taught him a new way to teach about prophets and he took it and taught it perfectly that night in a time. I am very impressed with his drive. he will definately make a geat missionary. I have also just been put as Distric Leader. I hope that that goes good. Haha Yikes. But ya things are going good. We got 8 new elders here. They are all very cool, and all seem very motivated. I am also just shocked at how well the area is going. We set 6 more baptism dates this last week. Things are going great . I filled up my second memory card and am working on the 3rd now. Woo. I am not sure if there is anything I need, but a package, and more Black socks, and pictures of christ and alot of the temple to give to people and CTR rings. Other than that I think that I am good. And of course more pictures of the family. I love that more than anything. But Ya things are going great. I have actually not even tried to use my card since south africa so I am not sure if it works or not. I have not needed to use it. Things are going great. I read one of the conference talks and wow it is really good. I was way impressed. We get to watch conference this weekend so I am way excited. Hopefully it will help our investigators get some answers to some prayers. Things are going great here though. Tell everyone that I said hi.
Love Ya,
Elder Madsen
Monday, February 21, 2011
Letters home this week 2/21/11 to mom
Hey,
Man I am so happy that your getting back to scrapbooking. That is to you, what piano is to me. Dont ever quit, the pages look awesome. I hope you liked the pics. So I appologize, I have a ton of awesome pics, but the computer wont read them so I cant send any this week. I am way sorry. But It was so great to get a pic of you and kacee. And a picture of Kacee actually smilling.
Haha but congrats of the first paycheck. I hope that the texas roadhouse was as delicious as ever. Thanks also for getting people to send me some letters. That will be very exciting to get. I am also excited for the package. I dont really NEED anything;
But the last packages were awesome. So ya, feel free to use your creativity. I really did love the taco seasoning packets, and the stuffing. Also any hamburger helper would be cool. I can get hamburger for way cheap here. Basically food stuff. And lots and lots of pictures. I love the pics. So any update of the college things ? I was figuring I would have to wait anyway because I still have a metal plate in my arm that needs to be taken out when I get home. So I will probably need a week or two before I can even use that arm again. But ya. That will be fun.
It sounds like things are going good. It is always great to have friends in the mafia. Lucky. Haha and I am thrilled to hear that Kassi is liking young womens and that josh is doing so good.
Well things are going very good up here. Elder *** is sticking things through. He is starting to get some of the Malagasy down. I took him on splits this week and he was able to pray in malagast and even bear his testimony. He is doing very very good. I think that in a couple months he will be shocked at how well he is. Haha plus the branch has taken it upon themselves to teach him Malagasy, so they are always quizzing him with words. Haha he will get it.
So this week we had a little cyclone come through. It wasnt anything big to cause damage. Just a ton of rain. Holy rain. I have never seen so much rain in my life. I couldnt tell from what direction it was coming. It is normally super super hot here. But I was freezing freezing cold this entire week. I hate the cold now.
Haha so I dont know if you ever remember me talking about ***. He is an investigator that we have that is just awesome. Well the problem is, is that he cant be baptised because his wife doesnt want to go through with the vita soratra, and she wont learn with us. Other than that he is ready to be baptised. Well we have been praying that his wifes heart would be softened for about a month now. Haha and well, God answers prayers, but not how you always expect them. So he has been trying to get her to come to church and learn with us, ever since we have started learning. But it has just been making him frusterated, because she wont learn. So he has been getting mad at her. Well just yesterday we went over there to teach them, and we started talking to the wife . Normally she talks with us for a bit, and then runs off. But this time she started to open up. Haha but not how we expected. Haha So I asked the guy how he has been doing trying to get rid of the cigaretts and he said that they are not a problem anymore. Well she said, I wish you could take care of his anger though, because he is just getting worse. Then she started to say how every time he goes to church or reads the book of mormon he turns into the biggest jerk to her, and is always yelling at her so she figured that the church was bad because it was just making him an angry man. Then he started to get angry and yell at her telling her the reason he gets mad is because he knows that it is true but she wont give it a chance, and then they just both started screaming at eachother. Me and my companion just sat there stuck in the middle of it. But it was a very good thing. That anger had been building up for over a month now, and they finally let it out. Once they got done yelling and saying everything they wanted to say, then we came in and taught how important communication was in a relationship. And if you are not telling someone you have a problem with them, they will never know. We also talked about how no relationship is perfect. You have to strive for the perfection. Then we had them both think of something that they could do to make the relationship go. And the wife agreed to learn from us, and to come to church. I was so excited and happy for them. It was definately not what I was expecting but it was definately progress and the next step for not only fransis to be baptised, but for his family to be baptised. I was so happy. Plus I learned a lesson that I needed to see, and that is the importance of communication.
So we also had a baptism this week. We had 9 people from the branch get baptised 3 were from my area. One of them was my favorite investigator from up here *****. It was so cool to see her finally get baptised. She has waited for so long. And she is so ready. It was so cool to see her make that progress. Also on the way down to the ocean, we saw a lemur !!! IT was so stinking cute. I got a ton of pics of it, so next week I will send them to you. The baptism was interesting. Due to the cyclone we were afraid the weather would not hold for the baptism. But after a ton of prayers the weather cleared up on sat. Well the skies were blue, but the ocean was still wild. There were HUGE waves. We were nervous about doing the baptism, and almost didnt do it, but the people insisted. So we started. First there was a little 9 year old boy that I baptised. I was way nervous that he would be too scared, but he came straight into the water. Well the waves were a good 6 to 7 feet tall. So we had to have 4 people sit and hold us down. Then each time we would try to do the ordinance a wave would wipe us out. We had to try 3 times to baptise him. But the kid was stinking brave. He thought it was fun. Well *** is sitting on the beach watching us get smacked to pieces and when it was her turn she came straight into the water, not even second guessing the waves. She didnt even seem to notice. It reminded me of the scripture in D&C Never fear to do good. I loved the baptism. It was very tiring though. By the time we were finished with all of them I was shaking I was so tired. Some of the people we had to baptise 5 times before it was good. Holy cow. The waves just seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. But To our suprise not a single person was scared or wanted to wait until another day. Haha I just remember the look on the face of the last girl that got baptised. She had seen 8 people before her go and struggle through the waves to get baptised, haha and when it was her turn she scrunchted up her face and literaly marched into the ocean. Haha it reminded me of the 2000 stripling warriors. No doubt, no fear . Just ready to push forward. All 8 of them came out of that water with smiling faces and beaming glows. There testimonies the next day reflected their joy and the peace that they felt inside. It was a beautiful baptism. It was tough, but oh so worth it.
I have a ton of pictures for you. I will try to send them next week though. The internet isnt working well again today.
Stay strong, press forward with faith. Dont fear the waves of the world. Also if you have time Read 2 nephi chapters 7&8 and just think about how people are angry with the churches stances today. I was shocked out how relevant the chapters were for our day. They are Issaiah Chapters but they are actually pretty clear. Dont follow your own fire, or morals, but follow the prophet. He never changes.
Love you,
Elder madsen
Man I am so happy that your getting back to scrapbooking. That is to you, what piano is to me. Dont ever quit, the pages look awesome. I hope you liked the pics. So I appologize, I have a ton of awesome pics, but the computer wont read them so I cant send any this week. I am way sorry. But It was so great to get a pic of you and kacee. And a picture of Kacee actually smilling.
Haha but congrats of the first paycheck. I hope that the texas roadhouse was as delicious as ever. Thanks also for getting people to send me some letters. That will be very exciting to get. I am also excited for the package. I dont really NEED anything;
But the last packages were awesome. So ya, feel free to use your creativity. I really did love the taco seasoning packets, and the stuffing. Also any hamburger helper would be cool. I can get hamburger for way cheap here. Basically food stuff. And lots and lots of pictures. I love the pics. So any update of the college things ? I was figuring I would have to wait anyway because I still have a metal plate in my arm that needs to be taken out when I get home. So I will probably need a week or two before I can even use that arm again. But ya. That will be fun.
It sounds like things are going good. It is always great to have friends in the mafia. Lucky. Haha and I am thrilled to hear that Kassi is liking young womens and that josh is doing so good.
Well things are going very good up here. Elder *** is sticking things through. He is starting to get some of the Malagasy down. I took him on splits this week and he was able to pray in malagast and even bear his testimony. He is doing very very good. I think that in a couple months he will be shocked at how well he is. Haha plus the branch has taken it upon themselves to teach him Malagasy, so they are always quizzing him with words. Haha he will get it.
So this week we had a little cyclone come through. It wasnt anything big to cause damage. Just a ton of rain. Holy rain. I have never seen so much rain in my life. I couldnt tell from what direction it was coming. It is normally super super hot here. But I was freezing freezing cold this entire week. I hate the cold now.
Haha so I dont know if you ever remember me talking about ***. He is an investigator that we have that is just awesome. Well the problem is, is that he cant be baptised because his wife doesnt want to go through with the vita soratra, and she wont learn with us. Other than that he is ready to be baptised. Well we have been praying that his wifes heart would be softened for about a month now. Haha and well, God answers prayers, but not how you always expect them. So he has been trying to get her to come to church and learn with us, ever since we have started learning. But it has just been making him frusterated, because she wont learn. So he has been getting mad at her. Well just yesterday we went over there to teach them, and we started talking to the wife . Normally she talks with us for a bit, and then runs off. But this time she started to open up. Haha but not how we expected. Haha So I asked the guy how he has been doing trying to get rid of the cigaretts and he said that they are not a problem anymore. Well she said, I wish you could take care of his anger though, because he is just getting worse. Then she started to say how every time he goes to church or reads the book of mormon he turns into the biggest jerk to her, and is always yelling at her so she figured that the church was bad because it was just making him an angry man. Then he started to get angry and yell at her telling her the reason he gets mad is because he knows that it is true but she wont give it a chance, and then they just both started screaming at eachother. Me and my companion just sat there stuck in the middle of it. But it was a very good thing. That anger had been building up for over a month now, and they finally let it out. Once they got done yelling and saying everything they wanted to say, then we came in and taught how important communication was in a relationship. And if you are not telling someone you have a problem with them, they will never know. We also talked about how no relationship is perfect. You have to strive for the perfection. Then we had them both think of something that they could do to make the relationship go. And the wife agreed to learn from us, and to come to church. I was so excited and happy for them. It was definately not what I was expecting but it was definately progress and the next step for not only fransis to be baptised, but for his family to be baptised. I was so happy. Plus I learned a lesson that I needed to see, and that is the importance of communication.
So we also had a baptism this week. We had 9 people from the branch get baptised 3 were from my area. One of them was my favorite investigator from up here *****. It was so cool to see her finally get baptised. She has waited for so long. And she is so ready. It was so cool to see her make that progress. Also on the way down to the ocean, we saw a lemur !!! IT was so stinking cute. I got a ton of pics of it, so next week I will send them to you. The baptism was interesting. Due to the cyclone we were afraid the weather would not hold for the baptism. But after a ton of prayers the weather cleared up on sat. Well the skies were blue, but the ocean was still wild. There were HUGE waves. We were nervous about doing the baptism, and almost didnt do it, but the people insisted. So we started. First there was a little 9 year old boy that I baptised. I was way nervous that he would be too scared, but he came straight into the water. Well the waves were a good 6 to 7 feet tall. So we had to have 4 people sit and hold us down. Then each time we would try to do the ordinance a wave would wipe us out. We had to try 3 times to baptise him. But the kid was stinking brave. He thought it was fun. Well *** is sitting on the beach watching us get smacked to pieces and when it was her turn she came straight into the water, not even second guessing the waves. She didnt even seem to notice. It reminded me of the scripture in D&C Never fear to do good. I loved the baptism. It was very tiring though. By the time we were finished with all of them I was shaking I was so tired. Some of the people we had to baptise 5 times before it was good. Holy cow. The waves just seemed to be getting bigger and bigger. But To our suprise not a single person was scared or wanted to wait until another day. Haha I just remember the look on the face of the last girl that got baptised. She had seen 8 people before her go and struggle through the waves to get baptised, haha and when it was her turn she scrunchted up her face and literaly marched into the ocean. Haha it reminded me of the 2000 stripling warriors. No doubt, no fear . Just ready to push forward. All 8 of them came out of that water with smiling faces and beaming glows. There testimonies the next day reflected their joy and the peace that they felt inside. It was a beautiful baptism. It was tough, but oh so worth it.
I have a ton of pictures for you. I will try to send them next week though. The internet isnt working well again today.
Stay strong, press forward with faith. Dont fear the waves of the world. Also if you have time Read 2 nephi chapters 7&8 and just think about how people are angry with the churches stances today. I was shocked out how relevant the chapters were for our day. They are Issaiah Chapters but they are actually pretty clear. Dont follow your own fire, or morals, but follow the prophet. He never changes.
Love you,
Elder madsen
Monday, February 14, 2011
Letter to Dad this week 2/14/2011
Jeff's letter:
Hey, How's it going? I watched a show on the travel channel the other night about this guy who travels all over the world to eat strange food. This one that I watched, he was in a little town just south of where you are. It was unreal to see some of the crap (and I use the word loosely) those people are eating. They were eating a fried beetle that are poisonous and sting the hell out of the people gathering them. They fried them up and ate them like potato chips. This guy said this was the only food in Madagascar that he thought was good. He said everything else was disgusting. They also showed a ceremony where this 5 year old boy was being circumsized because that is when they do it and the entire village shows up to watch and have a huge feast. The poor kid was awake through the whole thing and it took 4 men to hold him down while some old guy with a rusty knife got the job done. Then the grandpa has to eat the foreskin. They didn't fry it up in garlic butter or anything!!!!!!!!! Then they kill a zebu and cut out all the guts and only the immediate family get's to eat the guts while the rest of the village has to choke down the prime cuts off the zebu. It was funny as hell watching this poor guy eating the guts. He was telling his guide that he would rather have a hind quarter or something, but they told him only the peasants eat that gross meat.
Then they went out fishing out of Maha janga and caught a bunch of fish. instead of coming back and cooking up the fish, they gutted them and cooked all the guts for dinner and sold the rest of the fish at the market. It was hilarious to watch this poor guy. But the one guy caught a 50 pound mackarel and the whole village took turns dancing with the fish before they ate the guts. There sure isn't a lot of bra's in that country is there? I was thinking of coming over there and starting a VICTORIA'S SECRET, but I don't think it would fly real big.
So, now that I had my fun, how's things going for you? I talk to the *** every week at church. They even bring pictures of you and show me. Elder *** sure likes you. They said that he will miss you a lot when he leaves. He doesn't want to leave, but at the same time he is very excited to come home. If I had to eat the crap I saw on T.V. I would be wanted to come home. I can't to go over there some time though. I think we could have a ball. (literally) After mom watched that show I don't think she will want to go.
Kassi got contacts this week. She sure looks better with them than glasses. She is probably the most popular kid in school' but she sure has a lot of homework. It sure gets her frustated some days. Josh has never brought homework home and has all A's. Mom thinks he's cheating or something because the teachers all say that he is the best student they have. He is just naturally smart!! I better finish up here at work and go home. Have a good week. Love ya lots, the old man
Bug's response:
Hey,
hahaha that is funny how true that show sounds. The circumcision you saw is called a didipoatra. Haha there are some native Elders here that can remember theirs very vividally. That is the last thing on my list of malagasy traditions that I need to see. But ya everything is very true. And that isnt just the little towns they do that pretty much everywhere here. My first relief society presidents kid got it done the weekend before I got there so I missed it. Haha but they make the poor boys wear dresses for the next two weeks after the didipoatra to let it heal but I think it just scars the kids for life. There was actually a missionary that got offered to eat the forskin off the banana. Haha yumm. Also what they do is when the kid is freshly snipped they tie him to the back of his naked grandma and she does a dance completely toppless with the kid screaming and bleeding all over her. Hahaha if you could see how big off a pain in the butt that these kids are you would see that they only have it coming. Haha. That is cool about the fishing, because Mahajanga is the town that I am in right now. And holy cow do they have big fish. When you order fish here at a resturaunt it comes with the entire head staring back at you. Haha but man the fish is darn good up here. I also ate shard this last week. Oh wow that is some good stuff. They masacre the sharks and stingrays here. You see so many in the market. I saw one that was about 4 feet long the other day, but I didnt have my camera.
Things are going very good here. We have another baptism on this Sat. I am way excited for the lady that is getting baptised. She has come along ways. She used to do alot of really really bad things, but she has completely changed her life around and is a new person. It was way sad. She was in a relationship with a married man, who was paying her for the affair. Well she cut it off, but as soon as she did that her family disowned her because they found out that she was getting baptised. She was still staying positive, but then all of the tomatoes that she sells got stolen, so she had no money to buy new ones to sell, her family wouldnt support her and she cut off the guy. We didnt find out until it was later, but she went 5 days with only drinking hot water. When she told us she was in tears. It was so difficult because we are not allowed to give people money. Well I asked her if she had asked God for help. She said that she had been praying for strength every day. But when I asked if she had actually prayed to get more tomatoes she said no, she felt like she wasnt worthy. I told her that if she needed a blessing she had to ask. I promised her it would come. Well I am so glad I didnt give her money, because that night she prayed, and the next day a guy saw her and gave her an advance on some tomatoes to sell, and now her little street side stand is doing great. If I would have paid her I would have ruined that faith growing experience. Funny how things work. But I have been way impressed with her faith. She refuses to work on sunday, she keeps coming to church, even though her family is just evil to her, and the guy she left has come back to her twice offering her tons of money if she would come back. But she turned him down, this is when she had gone five days without food. I am so humbled at her faith. I cant believe it.
But ya *** goes home in like 3 weeks. He is a way cool guy. This area loved him. He is gone back to Tana now though. But ya. I hope that things are going good. Things are great here. Well I love your gutts,
Elder Madsen
Tia Ko Be
Mandrakisay Ny Fianikavianstika
Hey, How's it going? I watched a show on the travel channel the other night about this guy who travels all over the world to eat strange food. This one that I watched, he was in a little town just south of where you are. It was unreal to see some of the crap (and I use the word loosely) those people are eating. They were eating a fried beetle that are poisonous and sting the hell out of the people gathering them. They fried them up and ate them like potato chips. This guy said this was the only food in Madagascar that he thought was good. He said everything else was disgusting. They also showed a ceremony where this 5 year old boy was being circumsized because that is when they do it and the entire village shows up to watch and have a huge feast. The poor kid was awake through the whole thing and it took 4 men to hold him down while some old guy with a rusty knife got the job done. Then the grandpa has to eat the foreskin. They didn't fry it up in garlic butter or anything!!!!!!!!! Then they kill a zebu and cut out all the guts and only the immediate family get's to eat the guts while the rest of the village has to choke down the prime cuts off the zebu. It was funny as hell watching this poor guy eating the guts. He was telling his guide that he would rather have a hind quarter or something, but they told him only the peasants eat that gross meat.
Then they went out fishing out of Maha janga and caught a bunch of fish. instead of coming back and cooking up the fish, they gutted them and cooked all the guts for dinner and sold the rest of the fish at the market. It was hilarious to watch this poor guy. But the one guy caught a 50 pound mackarel and the whole village took turns dancing with the fish before they ate the guts. There sure isn't a lot of bra's in that country is there? I was thinking of coming over there and starting a VICTORIA'S SECRET, but I don't think it would fly real big.
So, now that I had my fun, how's things going for you? I talk to the *** every week at church. They even bring pictures of you and show me. Elder *** sure likes you. They said that he will miss you a lot when he leaves. He doesn't want to leave, but at the same time he is very excited to come home. If I had to eat the crap I saw on T.V. I would be wanted to come home. I can't to go over there some time though. I think we could have a ball. (literally) After mom watched that show I don't think she will want to go.
Kassi got contacts this week. She sure looks better with them than glasses. She is probably the most popular kid in school' but she sure has a lot of homework. It sure gets her frustated some days. Josh has never brought homework home and has all A's. Mom thinks he's cheating or something because the teachers all say that he is the best student they have. He is just naturally smart!! I better finish up here at work and go home. Have a good week. Love ya lots, the old man
Bug's response:
Hey,
hahaha that is funny how true that show sounds. The circumcision you saw is called a didipoatra. Haha there are some native Elders here that can remember theirs very vividally. That is the last thing on my list of malagasy traditions that I need to see. But ya everything is very true. And that isnt just the little towns they do that pretty much everywhere here. My first relief society presidents kid got it done the weekend before I got there so I missed it. Haha but they make the poor boys wear dresses for the next two weeks after the didipoatra to let it heal but I think it just scars the kids for life. There was actually a missionary that got offered to eat the forskin off the banana. Haha yumm. Also what they do is when the kid is freshly snipped they tie him to the back of his naked grandma and she does a dance completely toppless with the kid screaming and bleeding all over her. Hahaha if you could see how big off a pain in the butt that these kids are you would see that they only have it coming. Haha. That is cool about the fishing, because Mahajanga is the town that I am in right now. And holy cow do they have big fish. When you order fish here at a resturaunt it comes with the entire head staring back at you. Haha but man the fish is darn good up here. I also ate shard this last week. Oh wow that is some good stuff. They masacre the sharks and stingrays here. You see so many in the market. I saw one that was about 4 feet long the other day, but I didnt have my camera.
Things are going very good here. We have another baptism on this Sat. I am way excited for the lady that is getting baptised. She has come along ways. She used to do alot of really really bad things, but she has completely changed her life around and is a new person. It was way sad. She was in a relationship with a married man, who was paying her for the affair. Well she cut it off, but as soon as she did that her family disowned her because they found out that she was getting baptised. She was still staying positive, but then all of the tomatoes that she sells got stolen, so she had no money to buy new ones to sell, her family wouldnt support her and she cut off the guy. We didnt find out until it was later, but she went 5 days with only drinking hot water. When she told us she was in tears. It was so difficult because we are not allowed to give people money. Well I asked her if she had asked God for help. She said that she had been praying for strength every day. But when I asked if she had actually prayed to get more tomatoes she said no, she felt like she wasnt worthy. I told her that if she needed a blessing she had to ask. I promised her it would come. Well I am so glad I didnt give her money, because that night she prayed, and the next day a guy saw her and gave her an advance on some tomatoes to sell, and now her little street side stand is doing great. If I would have paid her I would have ruined that faith growing experience. Funny how things work. But I have been way impressed with her faith. She refuses to work on sunday, she keeps coming to church, even though her family is just evil to her, and the guy she left has come back to her twice offering her tons of money if she would come back. But she turned him down, this is when she had gone five days without food. I am so humbled at her faith. I cant believe it.
But ya *** goes home in like 3 weeks. He is a way cool guy. This area loved him. He is gone back to Tana now though. But ya. I hope that things are going good. Things are great here. Well I love your gutts,
Elder Madsen
Tia Ko Be
Mandrakisay Ny Fianikavianstika
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