Hey guys!
How are you all doing? I loved the video and "letter" from Caroline"! I can´t wait to get to know the 2 year old version of her:) I hope you guys are all doing well - not a lot of updates from you, but I´m sure you´re all doing fine.
As for us, everything´s going well here! We had another great week. But let´s see...what can I tell you about? Oh yeah, as for general Brasil-facts, elections are going on! Which I´m sure you guys have heard about. The city elections are over, which I`m SO happy about, because here the way politicians advertise is by hiring a bunch of cars to drive around with huge speakers, playing their jingle. Every one has a different jingle, but they´re all so, so obnoxious! So I was really happy when that was all over. But the presidential election tied, so it´s going to a second round, between Dilma and Serra. I was all for Marina, green party, for the totally senseless reason that she looked like she would be a really awesome president. But we can´t follow the campaigns, so that´s all I had to go off;) So now I`m hoping for Serra, just to change things up here. So we´ll see how things go! I´m kind of afraid Dilma will win, because she has way better music, and I think some people here vote based only on that:/ As a fun fact, voting is obligatory here!
But the best thing I can think of about the week is Alba. She´s really growing in leaps and bounds. She went to church for the third week in a row yesterday! And we had a great talk with her where she pretty much said that she is going to be baptized, she just wants to be really, really sure first. Which is amazing!! It doesn´t sound like much, but it´s SO far from where she was when we got here.
During this great talk, she brought up a concern about how people can bear their testimony and say they know the church is true and then fall away. I think that might be the big thing that´s holding her back. So we talked about it for a while, marked Lehi´s dream for her to read, and are going to talk about it more when we go back. Luciano said at church that she read what we had marked and continued on further (about a month ago she revealed that she´d never even picked up the Book of Mormon) and said she was going to go look at wedding rings this week (she´s been really iffy about getting married). So she´s really changing a lot!!
But then the best part happened last night when we were over. After our visit and right before the closing prayer, we were talking about their adorable 1 year old son, Samuel. He´s really an adorable kid, and really the center of their lives. He only says one word - "este", or "this one". So he´ll start to cry and point some direction, saying "this one!" and you have to take him around asking "this one? this one?" until you find out what he wants. So we were watching him be adorable, and Alba said,
"The funniest thing happened yesterday. You know how he loves to leaf through books? Yesterday he grabbed the hymn book, opened straight to Families Can Be Together Forever, and said, 'this one'."
She said it with such a sweet calmness, looking at him so adoringly - it was the first time I´ve heard her be serious about something like that. She´s such a complex person - she always says how honest she is, and it´s really true, but whenever we try to talk seriously about the church and her conversion she usually jokes about everything and avoids the subject. Sister Cantuara said, "He knows!" And Alba looked straight back at her, still with that peaceful calmness, and said, "Yeah, he knows."
So that was the amazing ending to our week. I´m so excited about her, and to get to see their wedding before I go. I love that family so much. I`m so glad I get to be here, meeting and trying in some way to help amazing people like them. I would be so lacking in spiritual growth if I hadn´t come on a mission - every day my testimony grows, to the point that I know it will never be shaken by anything. Thank you all so much for supporting me in my choice to come. I love you all, and can´t wait to hear from you next week! Have a great week!!
Until next time,
Sister Madsen :D
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
This Week
Hey everyone!
So today was "transfer day", even though President Ribeiro says for him transfers could be any time, not just in six and six weeks.....but it looks like I´m staying here til the end! With Sister Cantuara! Which is exactly how I would have picked it! There´s still so much to do here, I´m glad I´ll have the opportunity to finish it up at least a little bit.
So about this week.....let´s see. Yesterday was great as we had two great couples come to church! Alba came with Luciano for the second week in a row, something she´s not prone to do, so that was amazing. And *drumroll* Antonio and Danielle FINALLY came! Hurray! Danielle finally had a Sunday off, and they came. I hope they liked it - they said it dragged on a little at the end, but "I bet you get used to it with time, right?" So it sounds like they´re already planning to come again. I´m so happy about them - they´re an amazing family. And Julia, their 18 month old, behaved perfectly! So it was a good Sunday.
What else? We had lunch with Luciano´s family twice this week, so that was great. We stayed after, when he had gone back to work and the kids had gone to school, to talk to Alba alone. It was good - we asked her what her burning questions were, if the heavens opened and she could ask anything, what she would ask. We feel like there´s some huge doubt she´s not telling us about that prevents her from wanting to be baptized. But the question she said wasn´t like that, it was more or less "how to get along with people", but we thought about it, and when we came back marked 3 Nephi 14 for her in the BoM, about the golden rule and judge with righteous judgment. We really want her to get reading the BoM, because we know it can answer all her questions. So I hope she reads!
Other than that, it was a pretty normal week. We found some cool new investigators, but no one who really sticks out to tell about. It´s crazy how little time I have left - I really can´t believe it. I´m trying to work every day as if it´s the last, and praying we can get these people to a good place before I go. Thank you all so much for your updates and sending your love and support. I love you all, and have an amazing week! :)
Love always,
Sister Madsen
So today was "transfer day", even though President Ribeiro says for him transfers could be any time, not just in six and six weeks.....but it looks like I´m staying here til the end! With Sister Cantuara! Which is exactly how I would have picked it! There´s still so much to do here, I´m glad I´ll have the opportunity to finish it up at least a little bit.
So about this week.....let´s see. Yesterday was great as we had two great couples come to church! Alba came with Luciano for the second week in a row, something she´s not prone to do, so that was amazing. And *drumroll* Antonio and Danielle FINALLY came! Hurray! Danielle finally had a Sunday off, and they came. I hope they liked it - they said it dragged on a little at the end, but "I bet you get used to it with time, right?" So it sounds like they´re already planning to come again. I´m so happy about them - they´re an amazing family. And Julia, their 18 month old, behaved perfectly! So it was a good Sunday.
What else? We had lunch with Luciano´s family twice this week, so that was great. We stayed after, when he had gone back to work and the kids had gone to school, to talk to Alba alone. It was good - we asked her what her burning questions were, if the heavens opened and she could ask anything, what she would ask. We feel like there´s some huge doubt she´s not telling us about that prevents her from wanting to be baptized. But the question she said wasn´t like that, it was more or less "how to get along with people", but we thought about it, and when we came back marked 3 Nephi 14 for her in the BoM, about the golden rule and judge with righteous judgment. We really want her to get reading the BoM, because we know it can answer all her questions. So I hope she reads!
Other than that, it was a pretty normal week. We found some cool new investigators, but no one who really sticks out to tell about. It´s crazy how little time I have left - I really can´t believe it. I´m trying to work every day as if it´s the last, and praying we can get these people to a good place before I go. Thank you all so much for your updates and sending your love and support. I love you all, and have an amazing week! :)
Love always,
Sister Madsen
Monday, October 11, 2010
This week!
Hey everyone!
How are you all doing? It was great to see the video of Carrie in Disneyworld! She´s always getting more and more adorable. I bought some surprises for her today, so I hope she likes them! I was thinking about Grandma and Grandpa all day on Saturday, so I hope the party turned out great!
As for us, this week was good. We contacted two good referrals, and found some good new people. We contacted Silvia, a referral from a missionary in another ward, who´s the mom of several members. She´s very cool, a 70-ish year old woman from Uruguay who has quite a bit of an accent. She´s great, kind of a brusque old woman who told us we´d have to answer all her questions, and she has a lot, but she was willing to let us try. I really liked her even just the first visit. We also contacted Laura, the 14 year old friend of a 50-ish year old woman in another ward, the wife of one of the ward mission leaders. They´re friends from a sewing class, and the member friend offered her a Book of Mormon. So Laura is very cool, very active in her Catholic youth group, super spiritual and interested in the BoM.
Unfortunately, we´re going to have to give up Laura to another ward, as our boundaries changed yesterday! Yesterday the 7th ward in Uruguaiana was created, another Ipiranga Ward like in Santa Maria. So they stole one street from us, right where Laura lives. But I´m excited for her, she seems really interested and I´m sure it will go great with her and the elders.
Also in exciting news, we got a bishop yesterday! A man who nobody thought they would pick, as he was already bishop a little while ago. Another Marco (the same name as the last bishop). But he´s very cool, so it will be great! We also got a new ward mission leader, which will be really cool. The new one is a young guy who got home from his mission a few years ago, so that will be nice -- the other one was great, but he only had like a year and a half in the church, so didn´t know how a lot of things worked. But he´s now Elder´s Quorum president, so that´s cool.
But as for the story I said I would tell! Let me see. It all starts with the fact that it seems like all of a sudden we have bad luck with men! It seems like all the men we make missionary contacts with end up getting the wrong idea. So we talk to a lot of people, lots of them men, just "making contacts" as missionaries do. And up til now, it´s always been so normal. But lately it´s getting all weird! Just one of the various examples is Cristiano.
Cristiano is a street sweeper who we passed one day and he asked us what time the meetings were at church. So we made a contact with him, told him when to be there on Sunday, and asked for his address. He lived far, so we called and gave it to the elders in the other ward. But imagine our surprise when he showed up on Sunday!! It was amazing, I mean even the people we´ve been teaching forever often don´t come to church, so we were overjoyed to see someone we´d met only once. He got there as our sacrament meeting was ending and the other ward´s was starting, so he went to the other ward. We were all happy, and reinforced the commitment of the elders to go there, telling them how excited he was.
So then we didn´t hear more from him for a bit, until we passed him in the street again! This time he was kind of weird, saying, "Oh yeah, now that I saw you guys, I´ll definitely be there Sunday!" So we went on our way. But imagine our surprise when he showed up again Sunday! This time with a friend. "Wow," we thought, "he´s a super elect! Even bringing his friends to church!" So after, we had Gospel Principles class, but they left soon after we explained that the next class was just for them with the other men. But yet again, we were surprised when we walked out of church and Cristiano pulled up on his motorcycle!
That was the first time the "weird-alarm" rang in my mind. He pulled up and started talking to us, not beating around the bush much before asking, "But umm....do you guys go to the movies and stuff?" A pause. Dang it, I thought, he´s not so elect after all. "Umm, no. No, we don´t." "So you don´t date?" "No...no. But the elders are coming to your house, don´t forget."
So...that was the long story of how we got asked to the movies. It wasn´t a scary stalker experience, as it just occurred to me you guys could interpret it, just another funny mission experience like when I got knocked over by the dog:P Later when we went to Luciano´s house, the first thing he said was those guys had weirded him out a little and we should be careful, but then when we said we already knew and had already crushed his hopes, he and Alba proceeded to tease us about it, and still do.
But that´s about it for this week! Things continue to go well, and I´m making the most of the time I have. Thanks so much for all your love and support! I love you all so much! Have an amazing week!
Love always,
Sister Madsen
How are you all doing? It was great to see the video of Carrie in Disneyworld! She´s always getting more and more adorable. I bought some surprises for her today, so I hope she likes them! I was thinking about Grandma and Grandpa all day on Saturday, so I hope the party turned out great!
As for us, this week was good. We contacted two good referrals, and found some good new people. We contacted Silvia, a referral from a missionary in another ward, who´s the mom of several members. She´s very cool, a 70-ish year old woman from Uruguay who has quite a bit of an accent. She´s great, kind of a brusque old woman who told us we´d have to answer all her questions, and she has a lot, but she was willing to let us try. I really liked her even just the first visit. We also contacted Laura, the 14 year old friend of a 50-ish year old woman in another ward, the wife of one of the ward mission leaders. They´re friends from a sewing class, and the member friend offered her a Book of Mormon. So Laura is very cool, very active in her Catholic youth group, super spiritual and interested in the BoM.
Unfortunately, we´re going to have to give up Laura to another ward, as our boundaries changed yesterday! Yesterday the 7th ward in Uruguaiana was created, another Ipiranga Ward like in Santa Maria. So they stole one street from us, right where Laura lives. But I´m excited for her, she seems really interested and I´m sure it will go great with her and the elders.
Also in exciting news, we got a bishop yesterday! A man who nobody thought they would pick, as he was already bishop a little while ago. Another Marco (the same name as the last bishop). But he´s very cool, so it will be great! We also got a new ward mission leader, which will be really cool. The new one is a young guy who got home from his mission a few years ago, so that will be nice -- the other one was great, but he only had like a year and a half in the church, so didn´t know how a lot of things worked. But he´s now Elder´s Quorum president, so that´s cool.
But as for the story I said I would tell! Let me see. It all starts with the fact that it seems like all of a sudden we have bad luck with men! It seems like all the men we make missionary contacts with end up getting the wrong idea. So we talk to a lot of people, lots of them men, just "making contacts" as missionaries do. And up til now, it´s always been so normal. But lately it´s getting all weird! Just one of the various examples is Cristiano.
Cristiano is a street sweeper who we passed one day and he asked us what time the meetings were at church. So we made a contact with him, told him when to be there on Sunday, and asked for his address. He lived far, so we called and gave it to the elders in the other ward. But imagine our surprise when he showed up on Sunday!! It was amazing, I mean even the people we´ve been teaching forever often don´t come to church, so we were overjoyed to see someone we´d met only once. He got there as our sacrament meeting was ending and the other ward´s was starting, so he went to the other ward. We were all happy, and reinforced the commitment of the elders to go there, telling them how excited he was.
So then we didn´t hear more from him for a bit, until we passed him in the street again! This time he was kind of weird, saying, "Oh yeah, now that I saw you guys, I´ll definitely be there Sunday!" So we went on our way. But imagine our surprise when he showed up again Sunday! This time with a friend. "Wow," we thought, "he´s a super elect! Even bringing his friends to church!" So after, we had Gospel Principles class, but they left soon after we explained that the next class was just for them with the other men. But yet again, we were surprised when we walked out of church and Cristiano pulled up on his motorcycle!
That was the first time the "weird-alarm" rang in my mind. He pulled up and started talking to us, not beating around the bush much before asking, "But umm....do you guys go to the movies and stuff?" A pause. Dang it, I thought, he´s not so elect after all. "Umm, no. No, we don´t." "So you don´t date?" "No...no. But the elders are coming to your house, don´t forget."
So...that was the long story of how we got asked to the movies. It wasn´t a scary stalker experience, as it just occurred to me you guys could interpret it, just another funny mission experience like when I got knocked over by the dog:P Later when we went to Luciano´s house, the first thing he said was those guys had weirded him out a little and we should be careful, but then when we said we already knew and had already crushed his hopes, he and Alba proceeded to tease us about it, and still do.
But that´s about it for this week! Things continue to go well, and I´m making the most of the time I have. Thanks so much for all your love and support! I love you all so much! Have an amazing week!
Love always,
Sister Madsen
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Conference Week!
Hey Everyone!
Wow, I can´t believe you guys already went to Disney World! I was thinking it was at the end of October. I hope it was just as amazing as you hoped! It looks like it was so awesome! Carrie was adorable in her costume, just from what I could see, and it looks like you guys had an amazing time. I´m excited to hear all about it!
As for us, it was kind of an eventful week. The best part was General Conference over the weekend!! I had been counting down the days since last April. It´s amazing how it´s become my favorite time of year - I had never looked forward to it before the mission. But it was incredible! Again, my favorite talks were by Elder Holland and Elder Eyring. They´ve both had a string of amazing talks. The bad part was that we had spent ALL week inviting everyone we came in contact with, with a special lesson about prophets to get everyone excited, and.....almost no one we invited came. But the good part was that the ward mission leader of another ward brought two friends who live in our area! So we have two great references, I`m excited to go teach them tomorrow and Friday.
So Conference was amazing, and then Monday and Tuesday followed it with an amazing Zone Conference! The President came alone, so we were sad we didn´t get to see Sister Ribeiro, but we had two amazing days of training on the new info from Salt Lake, the Simplified Curriculum. We watched more of The District 2, which is so amazing. The hard part was it´s not dubbed in Portuguese yet, so I had to translate it simultaneously for S. Cantuara! It´s a lot harder than I thought. But the training was so amazing. I learned SO much about how to be a better missionary...I just wish I had been doing that stuff all along. But I still have two months to make it count!
So this week was great, a lot learned and a lot to put in practice! I´m really excited. It´s starting to get hot! Already. I´m pretty sure there are two out of twelve months here with good weather, one in spring and the other in fall. The rest is either scorchingly hot or bitterly cold. But that´s how it is in the south of Brasil! And really, I wasn´t that impressed with their winter (now that it´s over at least - I seem to remember complaining while it was going on). But compared to summer, it´s really nothing. So I hope you guys are doing great! I can´t wait to hear more about your trip and everything. And especially Grandma and Grandpa´s anniversary! Give them both a huge hug for me!! I love you all so much and can´t wait to hear from you next week.
Until next time!
Sister Madsen :D
Wow, I can´t believe you guys already went to Disney World! I was thinking it was at the end of October. I hope it was just as amazing as you hoped! It looks like it was so awesome! Carrie was adorable in her costume, just from what I could see, and it looks like you guys had an amazing time. I´m excited to hear all about it!
As for us, it was kind of an eventful week. The best part was General Conference over the weekend!! I had been counting down the days since last April. It´s amazing how it´s become my favorite time of year - I had never looked forward to it before the mission. But it was incredible! Again, my favorite talks were by Elder Holland and Elder Eyring. They´ve both had a string of amazing talks. The bad part was that we had spent ALL week inviting everyone we came in contact with, with a special lesson about prophets to get everyone excited, and.....almost no one we invited came. But the good part was that the ward mission leader of another ward brought two friends who live in our area! So we have two great references, I`m excited to go teach them tomorrow and Friday.
So Conference was amazing, and then Monday and Tuesday followed it with an amazing Zone Conference! The President came alone, so we were sad we didn´t get to see Sister Ribeiro, but we had two amazing days of training on the new info from Salt Lake, the Simplified Curriculum. We watched more of The District 2, which is so amazing. The hard part was it´s not dubbed in Portuguese yet, so I had to translate it simultaneously for S. Cantuara! It´s a lot harder than I thought. But the training was so amazing. I learned SO much about how to be a better missionary...I just wish I had been doing that stuff all along. But I still have two months to make it count!
So this week was great, a lot learned and a lot to put in practice! I´m really excited. It´s starting to get hot! Already. I´m pretty sure there are two out of twelve months here with good weather, one in spring and the other in fall. The rest is either scorchingly hot or bitterly cold. But that´s how it is in the south of Brasil! And really, I wasn´t that impressed with their winter (now that it´s over at least - I seem to remember complaining while it was going on). But compared to summer, it´s really nothing. So I hope you guys are doing great! I can´t wait to hear more about your trip and everything. And especially Grandma and Grandpa´s anniversary! Give them both a huge hug for me!! I love you all so much and can´t wait to hear from you next week.
Until next time!
Sister Madsen :D
Another Week
Hey guys!
How are you all doing? I LOVED the videos of Carrie dancing, and I can´t believe how big she is!! I couldn´t stop laughing in the middle of the internet place. Thanks so much for sending them! It´s so good to see you guys in video!
As for here, it was another week! We continued our search for new people, without a ton of success. We´re meeting real opposition in finding people - we´ll find great people, who then on the second visit somehow don´t work out. (You might say we can´t get a second date;)) Like Matilde and her family - an amazing family who let us in knocking doors, a mom, her son and daughter, and the daughter´s boyfriend. They all were doing something, but all stopped and sat to listen, listened with such attention and loved the message. Then when we came back, only the son was at home, so we tried another day. That day, we were coming down the street as we saw Matilde coming home. We stopped because we got a phone call, talked for a minute, and then went to knock.....and knock.....but no one answered. So I don´t know why people do things like that, see us coming down the street and run in the house and hide, after they liked the first message so much. But the work will continue, and I know there are people here who need the gospel! So I know we´ll find them!
Things continue to be super weird with Cinthia. This week she called once, "just to see how we were doing", but at the end said we were invited over any time to have some wine or coffee. So....I don´t know what she wants or what she´s trying to do, but it´s really weird. Then she texted saying they wanted to have us over for lunch and then take us to their church meeting. We´re thinking about doing it if she agrees to come to General Conference this weekend, but I´m still not sure if it´s a good idea, so we´re getting a few people´s advice about it.
We had a great ward activity this week! We haven´t really been having activities, not having a bishop, but the first counselor is really stepping up and trying to bring the ward together. So he threw together a pretty last minute activity with us, which I was worried wouldn´t turn out, but it was great. The theme was the Book of Mormon, and we showed "Small and Simple Things", this awesome short film about a boy whose friend gives him a Book of Mormon, and then a few people bore their testimonies. Then we ate Brazilian hot dogs (they cut up the hot dogs into pieces and put them in a tomato-y sauce and then eat it on bread! They think our hot dogs are weird.) and just talked. 40 people came, more than sacrament meeting last week! A lot of the people who we´re trying to get to come back, and Antonio and Danielle, a couple we´re teaching. So that was great.
So that´s pretty much the news of the week! As well as the fact that I now know the day I´m coming home - December 1. But I don´t want to think about that too much yet. I´m so glad to be here doing the work of the Lord, and I`m trying to make every minute count. Every day there´s something new to learn, someone new to help, and some new way for my testimony to be strengthened. This really is the greatest experience I´ve ever had. Thank you all so much for supporting me! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week.
Until next time!
Sister Madsen
P.S. Happy birthday tomorrow, Katie!!! :D And happy late birthday, Mom! I wrote your birthday in my planner and thought about you all day on the 17, but forgot to write it last email. So happy birthday, guys! :D
How are you all doing? I LOVED the videos of Carrie dancing, and I can´t believe how big she is!! I couldn´t stop laughing in the middle of the internet place. Thanks so much for sending them! It´s so good to see you guys in video!
As for here, it was another week! We continued our search for new people, without a ton of success. We´re meeting real opposition in finding people - we´ll find great people, who then on the second visit somehow don´t work out. (You might say we can´t get a second date;)) Like Matilde and her family - an amazing family who let us in knocking doors, a mom, her son and daughter, and the daughter´s boyfriend. They all were doing something, but all stopped and sat to listen, listened with such attention and loved the message. Then when we came back, only the son was at home, so we tried another day. That day, we were coming down the street as we saw Matilde coming home. We stopped because we got a phone call, talked for a minute, and then went to knock.....and knock.....but no one answered. So I don´t know why people do things like that, see us coming down the street and run in the house and hide, after they liked the first message so much. But the work will continue, and I know there are people here who need the gospel! So I know we´ll find them!
Things continue to be super weird with Cinthia. This week she called once, "just to see how we were doing", but at the end said we were invited over any time to have some wine or coffee. So....I don´t know what she wants or what she´s trying to do, but it´s really weird. Then she texted saying they wanted to have us over for lunch and then take us to their church meeting. We´re thinking about doing it if she agrees to come to General Conference this weekend, but I´m still not sure if it´s a good idea, so we´re getting a few people´s advice about it.
We had a great ward activity this week! We haven´t really been having activities, not having a bishop, but the first counselor is really stepping up and trying to bring the ward together. So he threw together a pretty last minute activity with us, which I was worried wouldn´t turn out, but it was great. The theme was the Book of Mormon, and we showed "Small and Simple Things", this awesome short film about a boy whose friend gives him a Book of Mormon, and then a few people bore their testimonies. Then we ate Brazilian hot dogs (they cut up the hot dogs into pieces and put them in a tomato-y sauce and then eat it on bread! They think our hot dogs are weird.) and just talked. 40 people came, more than sacrament meeting last week! A lot of the people who we´re trying to get to come back, and Antonio and Danielle, a couple we´re teaching. So that was great.
So that´s pretty much the news of the week! As well as the fact that I now know the day I´m coming home - December 1. But I don´t want to think about that too much yet. I´m so glad to be here doing the work of the Lord, and I`m trying to make every minute count. Every day there´s something new to learn, someone new to help, and some new way for my testimony to be strengthened. This really is the greatest experience I´ve ever had. Thank you all so much for supporting me! I love you all and hope you have an amazing week.
Until next time!
Sister Madsen
P.S. Happy birthday tomorrow, Katie!!! :D And happy late birthday, Mom! I wrote your birthday in my planner and thought about you all day on the 17, but forgot to write it last email. So happy birthday, guys! :D
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