First Week in Uruguaiana!

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