Last week....‏

Hey everyone!

How are you all doing? It was good to hear from you all, and I`m so glad Grandpa´s doing well! Tell him to be patient for one more week, because his ice is almost on the way!:) It looks like a few of you got hacked, or I`m assuming that´s what the weird emails are....so be careful! But it was great to hear from everyone.

As for here.....things are getting a little crazy. Or really, it´s just me who´s getting crazy, because everything´s the same! It´s starting to get real to me that I`m almost done, and it´s a really weird feeling. Last night at Luciano´s, they were talking about plans for Christmas and "we want to invite you guys over to my dad´s house to spend Christmas with us....or, I guess, Sister da Silva and whoever comes in your place". And I actually got tears in my eyes, just knowing that I was so close to saying goodbye to them. There have been a few families here who are really special to me, and none have touched me more than the ones here in Uruguaiana.

But everything continues to go well, we´re still finding good people, and people we already had are progressing more. Yesterday, Silvia came to church! She´s a 70 year old woman we´ve been teaching, who is the mom and grandmother of a few members from another ward. She really enjoyed it, so that was great. Laura (15) also came and liked it again, and Luciano and his kids. (Alba wasn´t feeling well). So the people here are doing well, but everything continues about as normal. Lorena is already getting sad that I´m almost gone (wife of the former bishop), and even planned her baby shower to be this friday so I can come. So it´s really weird with kind of the "farewell" atmosphere and everything, but I`m trying hard to keep my head here in Uruguaiana.

There´s really not a ton of news other than that, except that it´s starting to get super super hot (which I`ll be glad to escape:P) Things are going great with Sister da Silva, and Í know she´ll do great at continuing the work here. I´m so, so grateful for this experience. I´ve grown in so many ways I can´t even count, and I know it´s changed the course of my life forever. It´s the greatest experience I´ve ever had, and I´m so glad I made the choice to come. I know it was Heavenly Father´s plan for me, and that´s why he put the idea in my head all these years. My testimony has grown leaps and bounds, and I know now, without a doubt, that the gospel is true. I have a love for the Book of Mormon which I always saw that other people had, but never had myself. I have a greater love for everything - the gospel, my family, everyone who´s loved and cared for me, and everything about life. So thank you all so much for supporting me in this decision!

I love you all, and can´t wait to see you soon. We watched The Other Side of Heaven last night with Luciano and Alba, and it was so weird to see what it was like for him to go home. I´m sure a few things will be like that for me - I might not go barefoot or sleep on the floor, but it will be so different to be home after so much time away. But I´m so grateful for the amazing memories I`ll bring with me. I love you all, and have a great week! I´ll see you soon! :D

Love,
Sister Madsen