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