Hey everyone!
So lots of excitement since last letter; let me update you. So Monday, I ran around like a crazy person getting everything ready to leave, trying to close up our area in Ipiranga for the elders to start there, packing everything....it was crazy. Then Tuesday, we went to the bus station, I met Sister Cantuara, and went off on a 7 hour bus ride with her here to Uruguaiana! We didn´t get here til about 8, but when we got to the bus station the zone leaders were there to meet us. They helped us get our stuff to our apartment, set everything down, said good luck, and left. It seemed really quiet for a second, and I had a small inner panic attack of "what do we do now?!" So we started looking around our apartment for any kind of clues, the phone number of the bishop or something, but nothing. The area book (the place where we record all the information about investigators and what they´ve been taught) hadn´t been updated since April. So by then it was already 8:30, so we stayed in, trying to get some info about investigators and members to start with the next day.
So the next day....we got our map and the addresses of investigators and headed out! Eventually, we got a hold of a number of the stake counselor who lives in our ward, and he came and got us in his car and showed us around a bit, where the chapel was, etc, and drove us to our lunch appointment. Since then, all the members have been that amazing! Everyone´s super excited to have sisters - it seems like this ward never has! The city used to, the Santana ward did for a few years, but people are way excited to have us in the Uruguaiana ward. So we continued the week trying to find our way around with the map and various addresses, not really knowing what people needed to be taught because of the lack of info in the area book, but finding our way through everything. It´s obvious the Lord really gives us what we need to accomplish what we need to accomplish! I´m not great with maps, but already on the second day I was able to get us to where we needed to be (most of the time:P) I´m so grateful for heavenly help!
So there are amazing people here, great members (although our ward is going through a bit of a rough patch, with an attendance of about 40), and an amazing family of investigators! They´re a reference from a member who the elders had only contacted once before they left. So we taught them twice more this week, and the mom (Eva) and one of the daughters (Tainara) came to church yesterday!! They loved it, the family is amazing, and I`m so excited to work with them.
So everything´s going amazing! The area is really cool, we´re literally right on the river, so I get to see Argentina every day:P I´ve met a few Argentinos here, and got to attempt spanish once! Sister Cantuara is great, too. She´s from Salvador, Bahia. She´s 27 but looks like 17, and is the second youngest of 11 children. She´s very very calm and collected, and never freaks out when I get us lost or anything, which is great:) We already get along really well.
So that´s this week in a nutshell! I´m so excited to work here. I know it´s for a wise purpose in the Lord, and I know there are people here I need to help. We were able to speak in sacrament meeting yesterday, and I spoke about how we´re a "peculiar people" (not as cool in portuguese, they just say "special") and need to be different from the rest of the world, and our responsibility to share the blessings we´ve been given. We´re so lucky to know what we know - that there´s a prophet on the earth today, why we´re here and where we´re going, that our families can be together even after death. I´m so grateful to be able to teach people those things every day. I can´t believe how time is flying! Next week I´ll make one year! It just makes me realize how much I have to take advantage of this time I have, because it will never come back.
I love you all so much, and I´m so grateful for your love and support. Thank you for helping me be here, where I can serve the Lord by serving his children. I love you all and pray for you all the time! Til next week! :D
Sister Madsen
Monday, June 21, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Transfered?! :D
Hey Family!!
So, big changes!! So today was our transfer meeting, and I was 99% sure I knew what was going to happen.....President told me in my interview that he would be pulling one companionship out of Ipiranga, so it would end up just me and Sister da Silva to combine to the two companionships. So Sister Pedrozo and Sister Witmer have already packed their bags and everything because they knew they were leaving, and I was trying to plan out combining all of our investigators into one big teaching group, how we would plan everything, etc.
But then today it was just one surprise after another! I told you how we do it, right? With drawing the nametags out of a bag, our whole zone together......so someone drew Sister da Silva, and Elder Borges, the Zone Leader who had all the info, said "Would you believe her companion´s sitting right next to her?" So she looked at Sister Pedrozo, her current companion, and starting screaming, Yay, we´re together again! But nope, then he announced her area......Vila Rica in the city of Santiago!! A city that´s never had sisters (as far as I know) in the history of the mission! And her companion.....Sister Witmer!! So they´re both leaving together to open an area!
So I started to wonder about who would end up staying with me....but then Sister Pedrozo´s name was drawn. Everyone thought he was kidding when he put up her area.......Alegrete! Another city that´s never had sisters!! Two huge surprises in a row! So she would also be leaving to open an area, with Sister de Oliveira. She was super excited!
Then it came to my turn.....I was positive I was staying, because who else would there be to take care of our area? The only question was who would be my companion. So of course I told Elder Borges to stop joking around when he wrote my area on the board.....Uruguaiana, a city that hasn´t had sisters for 2 years! But he really wasn´t kidding.....I´m really going!! To open the area again with Sister Cantuara (who I´ve never met). So.....none of this probably means as much to you guys as it does to us here, but it´s very crazy!! The whole time I´ve been here, it´s just been the same 5 cities that have sisters, and now all of a sudden 3 new ones, that ALL 4 of us in our apartment are going to open.
So that means....no one is staying to take care of our area! He´s handing it over to elders! Just when all the difficulties were starting to get better....but it´s good, it will revive the ward a lot. But.....I´m going to Uruguaiana!! Tomorrow! 6 hours away, waaay over on the boarder with Argentina! (I know, it sounds like it should be the border with Uruguay, which I thought for a long time, but nope, it´s on the River Uruguai, which is the border with Argentina). So I´ll get to practice my Spanish....Sister Cantuara and I will get to start from scratch.....I´m super excited!! :D
And in other amazing news, Sister Raphaela came last night! Her mission is officially over, but she´s staying 2 more weeks like I explained before. But, so for these last few transfers she´s been back in Cruz Alta! When she trained me it was in the 1st Ward, where she stayed for 7 months, then went off to a few more cities, then went back to the 3rd Ward to finish. So she spent more than half her mission there! But she brought news of everyone from the 1st ward......and they´re all doing so, so well!! EVERYONE that we worked with is still firm in the church. Jovana is loving being a Young Women´s counselor, and Marcos (less active) is going to church a little at a time. And remember Rosane, mom of Malika and Claudia, who I told you the crazy story about, how she told us she had been baptized as a teenager, but then on our last day told us she never really had been, she had just said it so we wouldn´t "try to baptize her"? But then she said she realized that a church that did the things she´d seen it do had to be true, and she even wanted to be baptized that weekend before we left?
Well, she was baptized shortly after we left, and Sister Raphaela said she´s a completely changed person now - she stopped smoking, separated from her boyfriend, she even changed her house to be cleaner and more open with a picture of everyone in the family´s baptism displayed on a table....she said it´s hard to describe, but you can even see a change in her appearance. I was SO SO happy to hear about her....and Cirlei´s marriage turned out alright (which we helped her start working on), she was baptized and had her baby.......Elenice also got married and was baptized, and now she and her two kids (who used to be less active) are all going every week! She even showed me a video of Giulia (Jovana´s daughter) and Carol (cousin) singing the young women´s song from this year, with Jovana standing in the background singing along.....and watching all three of them singing by heart, Marcos standing quietly as always, but then wrapping his arms tight around Jovana......I started to cry from the happiest feeling I´ve ever had in my life. All the memories of those people came flooding back, and I felt this incredible love for them, and this incredible happiness at how far they had all come. It´s impossible to describe, but I´ve never felt a feeling like that in my entire life.
It really is like Preach My Gospel says in the very front - "more happiness than you have ever experienced awaits you" on your mission. I´m so glad I get to have this opportunity. Thank you all so much for helping me get here and supporting me in this incredible experience. I love you all so much, and I hope I can convey to you a little of the joy I´m feeling - the joy that comes from the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that He is the only wait to gain such joy in this lifetime, and to gain eternal life in the world to come. I know He lives, and I know He loves us.
Have a great week! I´ll update you next week on the first week in Uruguaiana!!! :D
Love always,
Sister Madsen
So, big changes!! So today was our transfer meeting, and I was 99% sure I knew what was going to happen.....President told me in my interview that he would be pulling one companionship out of Ipiranga, so it would end up just me and Sister da Silva to combine to the two companionships. So Sister Pedrozo and Sister Witmer have already packed their bags and everything because they knew they were leaving, and I was trying to plan out combining all of our investigators into one big teaching group, how we would plan everything, etc.
But then today it was just one surprise after another! I told you how we do it, right? With drawing the nametags out of a bag, our whole zone together......so someone drew Sister da Silva, and Elder Borges, the Zone Leader who had all the info, said "Would you believe her companion´s sitting right next to her?" So she looked at Sister Pedrozo, her current companion, and starting screaming, Yay, we´re together again! But nope, then he announced her area......Vila Rica in the city of Santiago!! A city that´s never had sisters (as far as I know) in the history of the mission! And her companion.....Sister Witmer!! So they´re both leaving together to open an area!
So I started to wonder about who would end up staying with me....but then Sister Pedrozo´s name was drawn. Everyone thought he was kidding when he put up her area.......Alegrete! Another city that´s never had sisters!! Two huge surprises in a row! So she would also be leaving to open an area, with Sister de Oliveira. She was super excited!
Then it came to my turn.....I was positive I was staying, because who else would there be to take care of our area? The only question was who would be my companion. So of course I told Elder Borges to stop joking around when he wrote my area on the board.....Uruguaiana, a city that hasn´t had sisters for 2 years! But he really wasn´t kidding.....I´m really going!! To open the area again with Sister Cantuara (who I´ve never met). So.....none of this probably means as much to you guys as it does to us here, but it´s very crazy!! The whole time I´ve been here, it´s just been the same 5 cities that have sisters, and now all of a sudden 3 new ones, that ALL 4 of us in our apartment are going to open.
So that means....no one is staying to take care of our area! He´s handing it over to elders! Just when all the difficulties were starting to get better....but it´s good, it will revive the ward a lot. But.....I´m going to Uruguaiana!! Tomorrow! 6 hours away, waaay over on the boarder with Argentina! (I know, it sounds like it should be the border with Uruguay, which I thought for a long time, but nope, it´s on the River Uruguai, which is the border with Argentina). So I´ll get to practice my Spanish....Sister Cantuara and I will get to start from scratch.....I´m super excited!! :D
And in other amazing news, Sister Raphaela came last night! Her mission is officially over, but she´s staying 2 more weeks like I explained before. But, so for these last few transfers she´s been back in Cruz Alta! When she trained me it was in the 1st Ward, where she stayed for 7 months, then went off to a few more cities, then went back to the 3rd Ward to finish. So she spent more than half her mission there! But she brought news of everyone from the 1st ward......and they´re all doing so, so well!! EVERYONE that we worked with is still firm in the church. Jovana is loving being a Young Women´s counselor, and Marcos (less active) is going to church a little at a time. And remember Rosane, mom of Malika and Claudia, who I told you the crazy story about, how she told us she had been baptized as a teenager, but then on our last day told us she never really had been, she had just said it so we wouldn´t "try to baptize her"? But then she said she realized that a church that did the things she´d seen it do had to be true, and she even wanted to be baptized that weekend before we left?
Well, she was baptized shortly after we left, and Sister Raphaela said she´s a completely changed person now - she stopped smoking, separated from her boyfriend, she even changed her house to be cleaner and more open with a picture of everyone in the family´s baptism displayed on a table....she said it´s hard to describe, but you can even see a change in her appearance. I was SO SO happy to hear about her....and Cirlei´s marriage turned out alright (which we helped her start working on), she was baptized and had her baby.......Elenice also got married and was baptized, and now she and her two kids (who used to be less active) are all going every week! She even showed me a video of Giulia (Jovana´s daughter) and Carol (cousin) singing the young women´s song from this year, with Jovana standing in the background singing along.....and watching all three of them singing by heart, Marcos standing quietly as always, but then wrapping his arms tight around Jovana......I started to cry from the happiest feeling I´ve ever had in my life. All the memories of those people came flooding back, and I felt this incredible love for them, and this incredible happiness at how far they had all come. It´s impossible to describe, but I´ve never felt a feeling like that in my entire life.
It really is like Preach My Gospel says in the very front - "more happiness than you have ever experienced awaits you" on your mission. I´m so glad I get to have this opportunity. Thank you all so much for helping me get here and supporting me in this incredible experience. I love you all so much, and I hope I can convey to you a little of the joy I´m feeling - the joy that comes from the true gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that He is the only wait to gain such joy in this lifetime, and to gain eternal life in the world to come. I know He lives, and I know He loves us.
Have a great week! I´ll update you next week on the first week in Uruguaiana!!! :D
Love always,
Sister Madsen
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
This week in Ipiranga!
Hey guys!!
How is everyone? I loved the video you made for the president! Thanks so much, I´m sure they´ll really enjoy that. You guys all looked so spring-ish and cute, and Carrie is getting cuter every day!! It was so good to see you in video form:)
As for here, I can´t believe how time is flying. We´re already starting the last week of this transfer! In one week, Sister Raphaela officially ends her mission...but she´s coming to stay with us for two weeks! The president gave her permission to stay two extra weeks so she could be here for the "mission tour" he´s doing before he leaves and the goodbye fireside and stuff. So she´ll be staying in our house! It´ll be so great, we´ll be together for the start of my mission and the end of hers. So it feels like a lot of things are changing! New transfer in a week, and Pres. told S. Witmer she´s leaving, so new companion as well...he also said he´s taking out a companionship from the ward, so it will be just me and the new comp. Plus President leaving in a few weeks.....lots of changes coming up!! But I´m excited.
Things here are going well. Things in the ward are improving a little at a time. The ward has kind of a negative attitude about the missionaries - not sure where it comes from, but I kind of already explained it, right? Just kind of a gossipy situation. So we´ve been trying to work better with them, leaving notes at the bishop´s house every few days since we can´t get a hold of him, etc. At a family home evening on Tuesday, one of the more gossipy members who used to be ward mission leader sat down and just kind of told us everything we could do better, so we just listened to it all, agreed, and started putting it in practice the next day! We also visited his family and sang them a hymn. So yesterday, the bishop said how happy he was with our notes, that he told the President he was impressed, and that said member had spoken well of us. So things are getting better with the ward a little at a time - still a long way to go, but it seems to be looking up.
As for the investigators...we both found again and possibly lost again Tiago this week. After he said, "don´t call me, I´ll call you" we were kind of thinking he had already "cut" us...but we went back this week to see how he was. So we watched the Restoration video and he felt the Spirit really strong, saying "wow, I really lost the focus, huh? I was so focused on coffee, I forgot about all this...." So sounds great, right?? We were so excited to have him back. But then on Saturday, when we asked if he was coming to church the next day, he said, "I probably should be more sincere with you guys....I´ve really already made my decision, and my decision is to stay with Catholicism." It was so frustrating, because he´s never showed any interest in Catholicism - it´s just an excuse. So we tried to talk things over, but he just kept saying "I´ve already made up my mind." So we just said a prayer and left...but he said we were always welcome there. And then today we met his mom (who LOVES us) in the street, and she said Tiago had been really sad, thinking we wouldn´t come back, and that we were always welcome there......so I think we´ll continue to pass by, not focusing on him, but seeing if we can get him to feel the Spirit every time and finally remember the answer he got when he prayed.
We also found some really cool people - Antonio Carlos and Silvana especially. We met them walking in the street carrying a tiny little baby all wrapped up, and made an appointment to go by. So when we went by, we found out we met them coming home from the hospital! The baby, Leticia, was born on Monday. They have three other kids as well. They´re really great, super receptive, really liked the message of the Restoration. When we asked them to come to church, Silvana apologized and said she really couldn´t leave with the baby yet, but would really like to. But Antonio said, "No, but I´m going there!" in such a decisive way. So then when we went to pick him up on Sunday, Silvana came out and said, "He already left! He went early." So we got all excited and ran to the chapel to find him.....but he wasn´t there. So either he got lost....went to the Catholic church around the corner.....or he´d had to go work and she just thought he had gone to church! When we went by later he was at work, so who knows. But they´re an amazing family and I´m really excited to work with them.
Like I said, I can´t believe how everything´s flying, but also how much I´m learning. I´m so glad to be here, every minute of it, even the hard stuff. It´s such a life changing experience and I´m so glad I decided to do it:) I´m learning things that will positively influence the course of my eternity. Thank you all so much for supporting me in it! I love you all so much, and I want you all to know that I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Church is true - it´s all true, all of it. It´s the greatest happiness there could be in the world. I love you all, and have a great week!
Til next time,
Sister Madsen
How is everyone? I loved the video you made for the president! Thanks so much, I´m sure they´ll really enjoy that. You guys all looked so spring-ish and cute, and Carrie is getting cuter every day!! It was so good to see you in video form:)
As for here, I can´t believe how time is flying. We´re already starting the last week of this transfer! In one week, Sister Raphaela officially ends her mission...but she´s coming to stay with us for two weeks! The president gave her permission to stay two extra weeks so she could be here for the "mission tour" he´s doing before he leaves and the goodbye fireside and stuff. So she´ll be staying in our house! It´ll be so great, we´ll be together for the start of my mission and the end of hers. So it feels like a lot of things are changing! New transfer in a week, and Pres. told S. Witmer she´s leaving, so new companion as well...he also said he´s taking out a companionship from the ward, so it will be just me and the new comp. Plus President leaving in a few weeks.....lots of changes coming up!! But I´m excited.
Things here are going well. Things in the ward are improving a little at a time. The ward has kind of a negative attitude about the missionaries - not sure where it comes from, but I kind of already explained it, right? Just kind of a gossipy situation. So we´ve been trying to work better with them, leaving notes at the bishop´s house every few days since we can´t get a hold of him, etc. At a family home evening on Tuesday, one of the more gossipy members who used to be ward mission leader sat down and just kind of told us everything we could do better, so we just listened to it all, agreed, and started putting it in practice the next day! We also visited his family and sang them a hymn. So yesterday, the bishop said how happy he was with our notes, that he told the President he was impressed, and that said member had spoken well of us. So things are getting better with the ward a little at a time - still a long way to go, but it seems to be looking up.
As for the investigators...we both found again and possibly lost again Tiago this week. After he said, "don´t call me, I´ll call you" we were kind of thinking he had already "cut" us...but we went back this week to see how he was. So we watched the Restoration video and he felt the Spirit really strong, saying "wow, I really lost the focus, huh? I was so focused on coffee, I forgot about all this...." So sounds great, right?? We were so excited to have him back. But then on Saturday, when we asked if he was coming to church the next day, he said, "I probably should be more sincere with you guys....I´ve really already made my decision, and my decision is to stay with Catholicism." It was so frustrating, because he´s never showed any interest in Catholicism - it´s just an excuse. So we tried to talk things over, but he just kept saying "I´ve already made up my mind." So we just said a prayer and left...but he said we were always welcome there. And then today we met his mom (who LOVES us) in the street, and she said Tiago had been really sad, thinking we wouldn´t come back, and that we were always welcome there......so I think we´ll continue to pass by, not focusing on him, but seeing if we can get him to feel the Spirit every time and finally remember the answer he got when he prayed.
We also found some really cool people - Antonio Carlos and Silvana especially. We met them walking in the street carrying a tiny little baby all wrapped up, and made an appointment to go by. So when we went by, we found out we met them coming home from the hospital! The baby, Leticia, was born on Monday. They have three other kids as well. They´re really great, super receptive, really liked the message of the Restoration. When we asked them to come to church, Silvana apologized and said she really couldn´t leave with the baby yet, but would really like to. But Antonio said, "No, but I´m going there!" in such a decisive way. So then when we went to pick him up on Sunday, Silvana came out and said, "He already left! He went early." So we got all excited and ran to the chapel to find him.....but he wasn´t there. So either he got lost....went to the Catholic church around the corner.....or he´d had to go work and she just thought he had gone to church! When we went by later he was at work, so who knows. But they´re an amazing family and I´m really excited to work with them.
Like I said, I can´t believe how everything´s flying, but also how much I´m learning. I´m so glad to be here, every minute of it, even the hard stuff. It´s such a life changing experience and I´m so glad I decided to do it:) I´m learning things that will positively influence the course of my eternity. Thank you all so much for supporting me in it! I love you all so much, and I want you all to know that I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the Church is true - it´s all true, all of it. It´s the greatest happiness there could be in the world. I love you all, and have a great week!
Til next time,
Sister Madsen
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