Hey guys!
How are you all doing? It was so good to read all the news from everyone! Unfortunately, I spent a ton of time reading and now have just a little to respond:/ But I´m so glad to hear you´re all doing well and see pictures of adorable Caroline and everything! :D
So this week was good! Let me see, what happened? Wow, it really seems like a really average week and not a lot to tell about. Sister Cantuara hasn´t been feeling that well - she hasn´t been sleeping at night, getting dizzy and headaches and stuff, so we ended up staying in one day. I´m a little worried, and hope we can get it resolved soon. But she´s fine most of the time, don´t worry!
Let´s see, what else? This week, August 28 passed Luciano and Alba by. It´s the date they´ve been planning for his baptism for the year and a half they (or he) has been coming to church. But his dad had a heart attack earlier in the month, and everything else possible combined to keep them from having the money they needed to get married. But we went to their son´s first birthday party on the 27, which their parents threw for him. It was great, and Luciano was really excited - he told us we´d be eating wedding cake next month and that nothing was going to stop it this time. We just have to make the goal and fast and pray that it works out, and then nothing will stop it!
I´ve been learning so much about faith lately - how miracles never happen until after we show our faith. Watching Finding Faith in Christ yet agan this week, I´m able to see that so clearly in that movie now. That every miracle Christ works, he asks beforehand if the person believes he can do it. I´m trying to develop faith like the people in those stories, who knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that if they could just see Christ or touch Him they would be healed. It´s the process of a lifetime, but I´m so grateful for this experience to develop my faith.
So things continue to go well here! Really no exciting or different stories about this week, but everything´s going great. I´m happy and healthy and loving every day I get to be here. I can´t believe how fast it´s going by - it seems like the weeks are going by twice as fast. Next week is another transfer! I´m getting a little desperate at how little time there is left. I still feel like I have so much left to accomplish. But I just have to make every day count! I love you all so much and I´m so grateful for all your help and your unfailing love and support. I love you all more every day. Have an amazing week!
Love always,
Sister Madsen
Monday, August 30, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Spring Weather
Hey everyone! :D
How are you all doing? So good to hear from you. Everything here´s great! This week was crazily warm, with temperatures around 30 degrees. Not hot for here, but jumping in straight from winter it feels terrible. But it´s nice! People here hate the cold and don´t go anywhere (including church), so it´s nice to have it a little warmer.
The best thing that happened this week was Saturday! Leda (11) and Vitoria (9), Berenice´s oldest daughters, were baptized. Berenice wanted to be baptized too, but her husband is....not helping very much. At first he did want to marry her, but then they fought, and now he´s just kind of there.....but one day she´ll be baptized too. It was great - a beautiful spring day, a nice reunion (meeting? What do you call a baptismal...thing?), lots of people came....the girls were so happy. The next day when they got confirmed, both of them brought flowers they had picked along they way to church and pictures they had painted and written notes to us, for me and Sister Cantuara. It was the greatest gift I could have gotten. They´re amazing girls - part of an amazing family. They and their mom already have such strong testimonies, I have no doubt they´ll stay strong their whole lives.
What else happened this week? There are so many good member families here. This area is really the first one where I´m making lots of friendships with member families. I don´t know why, it just never really happened before. But Marco and Lorena had great news this week - she´s been super sick, and we were all worried, but she found out she´s pregnant. So they were all really happy, and she even came back to church (she hadn´t been for a good bit). We also had a great family night with a family who´s also coming back to church, Carla and Cleberson. We watched Finding Faith in Christ (I really love that video) and....hard to explain, but it was just really nice to spend time with them. We also spent a nice night with Luciano and Alba. Luciano´s a little discouraged because everything happened to impede him and the kids from getting baptized next Saturday, but he´s not losing hope. I know they´ll be baptized soon, as soon as they can get the money together for the marriage.
So....everything kind of continues normal here! Just working, trying to find good new families, helping the ones we have work through their difficulties. I really love being here, and wouldn´t trade it for anything. I´m so grateful to have the opportunity to be an instrument in the Lord´s hands. I learn so much every day that I couldn´t learn any other way, and feel a happiness that doesn´t come from anything else. I know that´s what the Lord wants for all of us - happiness, joy and eternal life. Thank you all for supporting me in this work. I love you all more than I can explain! Have an amazing week.
Til next time!
Sister Madsen
How are you all doing? So good to hear from you. Everything here´s great! This week was crazily warm, with temperatures around 30 degrees. Not hot for here, but jumping in straight from winter it feels terrible. But it´s nice! People here hate the cold and don´t go anywhere (including church), so it´s nice to have it a little warmer.
The best thing that happened this week was Saturday! Leda (11) and Vitoria (9), Berenice´s oldest daughters, were baptized. Berenice wanted to be baptized too, but her husband is....not helping very much. At first he did want to marry her, but then they fought, and now he´s just kind of there.....but one day she´ll be baptized too. It was great - a beautiful spring day, a nice reunion (meeting? What do you call a baptismal...thing?), lots of people came....the girls were so happy. The next day when they got confirmed, both of them brought flowers they had picked along they way to church and pictures they had painted and written notes to us, for me and Sister Cantuara. It was the greatest gift I could have gotten. They´re amazing girls - part of an amazing family. They and their mom already have such strong testimonies, I have no doubt they´ll stay strong their whole lives.
What else happened this week? There are so many good member families here. This area is really the first one where I´m making lots of friendships with member families. I don´t know why, it just never really happened before. But Marco and Lorena had great news this week - she´s been super sick, and we were all worried, but she found out she´s pregnant. So they were all really happy, and she even came back to church (she hadn´t been for a good bit). We also had a great family night with a family who´s also coming back to church, Carla and Cleberson. We watched Finding Faith in Christ (I really love that video) and....hard to explain, but it was just really nice to spend time with them. We also spent a nice night with Luciano and Alba. Luciano´s a little discouraged because everything happened to impede him and the kids from getting baptized next Saturday, but he´s not losing hope. I know they´ll be baptized soon, as soon as they can get the money together for the marriage.
So....everything kind of continues normal here! Just working, trying to find good new families, helping the ones we have work through their difficulties. I really love being here, and wouldn´t trade it for anything. I´m so grateful to have the opportunity to be an instrument in the Lord´s hands. I learn so much every day that I couldn´t learn any other way, and feel a happiness that doesn´t come from anything else. I know that´s what the Lord wants for all of us - happiness, joy and eternal life. Thank you all for supporting me in this work. I love you all more than I can explain! Have an amazing week.
Til next time!
Sister Madsen
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
This week
Hey guys!
Almost out of time for this week, but wanted to let you know I´m doing well and everything´s ok. This week was pretty good - not much to report. Berenice´s wedding looks like it´s going to take a long time, so the three kids will be baptized next saturday! So that´s awesome - they´re super excited. Other than that, everything´s kind of normal but great! Just continuing missionary life as usual.
We got to speak in church yesterday, and my topic was the restoration. I was really glad for the opportunity - my favorite thing to talk about! I´m so grateful that God loves us enough that He restored the original church on the earth again, with everything that had been lost over the years. I´m so grateful for the way that gospel positively affects my life every day. Thank you all so much for all your love and support. I love you all more than I could ever possibly explain, and realize it more and more every day here on the mission. Have an amazing week!
Love always,
Sister Madsen
Almost out of time for this week, but wanted to let you know I´m doing well and everything´s ok. This week was pretty good - not much to report. Berenice´s wedding looks like it´s going to take a long time, so the three kids will be baptized next saturday! So that´s awesome - they´re super excited. Other than that, everything´s kind of normal but great! Just continuing missionary life as usual.
We got to speak in church yesterday, and my topic was the restoration. I was really glad for the opportunity - my favorite thing to talk about! I´m so grateful that God loves us enough that He restored the original church on the earth again, with everything that had been lost over the years. I´m so grateful for the way that gospel positively affects my life every day. Thank you all so much for all your love and support. I love you all more than I could ever possibly explain, and realize it more and more every day here on the mission. Have an amazing week!
Love always,
Sister Madsen
Saturday, August 14, 2010
No Heat
Hey guys!
Practically out of time for today! But everything´s going great. It was a good week! We got two good referrals from members - the mom and nephew of the ward mission leader, who it looks like both already want to be baptized! And a young couple who are the neighbors of the counselor in the bishopric. So referrals are amazing! Just to remind everyone who reads these letters, be on the lookout in your own life for the people who are prepared to receive the gospel. The missionaries can´t do it alone!
Hmm, what else happened this week? We´re spending a lot of time with Luciano and Alba and their kids, trying to get everything in order for August 28, which he´s been planning as his baptism date for a year. I´m not sure the significance of it, but it really means something to him. So we´re just lucky we´re the missionaries that get to be here when he´s baptised! But we´re praying everything will work out and that they can really get together the money they need to get married on the 27th. How much does it cost to get married at home? I´ve never heard anyone say they can´t get married because it´s too expensive, but here it´s the norm. To be married by a bishop and have it have legal effect (normally, religious weddings don´t - example: you have to be married by a judge before being married in the temple) it costs 170 reais. So we´re praying they can get it all together!
But other than that, it was a good but very normal week. Eight people came to sacrament meeting - Berenice and all her kids, Luciano and his kids and Yolanda, the ward mission leader´s mom. So we have a good amount of people progressing, it´s really exciting. We´re going to try to start the marriage papers for Berenice and her husband this week. So everything´s going well! I´m happy and healthy and loving working here with Sister Cantuara. Everything´s going amazing.
Thanks so much for all your letters and packages and love and support! I love you all so much. I hope you have an amazing week, and I`ll continue to pray for all of you like always. I love this gospel and I learn more every day how true it really is.
Love you!
Sister Madsen
I got this in another e-mail that I thought I'd share:
Some people choose to live right on the river bank and get flooded every year. Kind of like in the Caribbean, where they just expect their house to get demolished every year in the hurricane. Only here, they could just move further up and be fine, so I don´t know why they stay there. But nothing got flooded, as far as I know!
Also in crazy-Brasil facts, more about the heating situation. So there really isn´t heat in ANY of the buildings - even the richest houses. I already knew that, but I was surprised this week when I found out not even in the hospital is there indoor heat! The relief society president was telling me how cold it got at night staying in the hospital with her mom. I don´t know if they don´t know about indoor heating or what, because....it can´t be *that* expensive! Who knows.
Practically out of time for today! But everything´s going great. It was a good week! We got two good referrals from members - the mom and nephew of the ward mission leader, who it looks like both already want to be baptized! And a young couple who are the neighbors of the counselor in the bishopric. So referrals are amazing! Just to remind everyone who reads these letters, be on the lookout in your own life for the people who are prepared to receive the gospel. The missionaries can´t do it alone!
Hmm, what else happened this week? We´re spending a lot of time with Luciano and Alba and their kids, trying to get everything in order for August 28, which he´s been planning as his baptism date for a year. I´m not sure the significance of it, but it really means something to him. So we´re just lucky we´re the missionaries that get to be here when he´s baptised! But we´re praying everything will work out and that they can really get together the money they need to get married on the 27th. How much does it cost to get married at home? I´ve never heard anyone say they can´t get married because it´s too expensive, but here it´s the norm. To be married by a bishop and have it have legal effect (normally, religious weddings don´t - example: you have to be married by a judge before being married in the temple) it costs 170 reais. So we´re praying they can get it all together!
But other than that, it was a good but very normal week. Eight people came to sacrament meeting - Berenice and all her kids, Luciano and his kids and Yolanda, the ward mission leader´s mom. So we have a good amount of people progressing, it´s really exciting. We´re going to try to start the marriage papers for Berenice and her husband this week. So everything´s going well! I´m happy and healthy and loving working here with Sister Cantuara. Everything´s going amazing.
Thanks so much for all your letters and packages and love and support! I love you all so much. I hope you have an amazing week, and I`ll continue to pray for all of you like always. I love this gospel and I learn more every day how true it really is.
Love you!
Sister Madsen
I got this in another e-mail that I thought I'd share:
Some people choose to live right on the river bank and get flooded every year. Kind of like in the Caribbean, where they just expect their house to get demolished every year in the hurricane. Only here, they could just move further up and be fine, so I don´t know why they stay there. But nothing got flooded, as far as I know!
Also in crazy-Brasil facts, more about the heating situation. So there really isn´t heat in ANY of the buildings - even the richest houses. I already knew that, but I was surprised this week when I found out not even in the hospital is there indoor heat! The relief society president was telling me how cold it got at night staying in the hospital with her mom. I don´t know if they don´t know about indoor heating or what, because....it can´t be *that* expensive! Who knows.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Small miracles
Hey everyone!
So this email is a rewind to 5 months ago...I´m sitting here in the same old internet place close to the mission office in Santa Maria, next to Sister Draut! No, I didn´t get transfered, I came just for today to renew my visa. (Funny story - me and the other two American elders in my group and our companions traveled the 7 hours here and went to go renew, but the secretary had forgotten a part of the process, so we can´t even renew them. But...it´s all good!) So Sister Draut was transfered BACK to Camobi on Tuesday, so I get to hang out with her and everyone here in Santa Maria for a day! Sister Lopes as well - she´s now in Ipiranga (it went back to being Sisters....President changed a lot this transfer!) So it´s good to be back and see everyone.
But aside from that exciting part, this week was pretty good! The best part of the week was a woman we´ve been working with - I put her name, but decided some stuff was kind of personal, so we´ll call her Maria. So, it was amazing to see what happened with her this week. We´ve been working with her ever since we got here (or, there - Uruguaiana). She´s amazing - just one of those people who accepts the gospel with an open heart and absolutely believes it from day 1. She´s young, I would say not even 30, but has 6 kids, the oldest 11 and the youngest 2 months. She lives way down at the edge of the town, literally on the river (it was pretty far away at first but with all the rain lately, it´s up to 20 feet from her house). She´s what people here call humble - has a house made of 2x4s with a dirt floor, etc. She´s amazing, and has such an easiness and willingness to believe - when she prayed about the Book of Mormon she got the answer to "keep moving forward" with it, so she knows we´re sent from God and is willing to do whatever He wants her to do.
So we´ve always known she was that amazing, but it was even more awesome to see what happened with her this week. So in a meeting last Sunday with the ward leaders, we were talking about all of our investigators. We mentioned her and how great she was, but that something always happened to keep her from coming to church (her baby had to go to the hospital, etc...) So our ward mission leader said, "She´s really poor and has all those kids....can´t we do something for her?" We wouldn´t have said anything about it, but the response was amazing. The stake counselor got excited about it and so did all the other leaders, about helping out this woman they had never met. They decided to get together all the clothes they could for the kids, the ward mission leader and the bishop´s counselor planned a visit there to ask if they could take them, and....it all happened.
Normally we have meetings like this and it´s kind of normal for none of the plans to happen, but the response about Maria was amazing. They got together all kinds of clothes, the visits really happened, she accepted the help, the Bishop´s counselor and his wife hit it off amazingly with her and planned to go there Saturday night just to hang out, them and all their kids...and we became background players in her story, which we couldn´t be happier about. Suddenly she was surrounded by a ward family, offering to help her out when she needed it and truly becoming her friends. And the best part was seeing her and all of the kids in church yesterday! They came on foot (kind of an accomplishment, they live in the farthest neighborhood) alone, no one went to go walk with them or pick them up, they just came. I was so happy! This is how it´s supposed to be - we should be just minor characters in introducing people to their ward family. Our ward has been so weak, and it´s hard for the people to get along about anything, but they all got together behind Maria and the result was incredible.
The best part on Sunday was showing them the baptismal font. "Maria"´s neighbor, who actually really is named Maria, was baptized in May, and it turns out they´re actually relatives through marriage, but neither knew the other had ties to the church. So her neighbor said, "That´s where I was baptized! I hope you´ll be baptized too." And she said, "Yeah, that´s what I´m on the path for!" She´s so great - she´ll be an amazing member of the church. I´m so excited for her, and for our ward for being so amazing:)
So that was my story of the week! Everything´s going well, we have some really good people, and the members are getting more and more excited to help us, so it´s wonderful. It´s great working with Sister Cantuara, so....I couldn´t be happier! I´m so glad to be here, and I know it´s exactly where I should be. Sunday during sacrament meeting I was just filled with such an amazing feeling of happiness and peace, the kind that only comes from serving the Lord. I know more and more every day that this gospel is true - you don´t get that kind of feeling from a lie. Thank you so much for helping me get here! I love you all so much and am still praying for you always! :D
Til next week,
Sister Madsen
So this email is a rewind to 5 months ago...I´m sitting here in the same old internet place close to the mission office in Santa Maria, next to Sister Draut! No, I didn´t get transfered, I came just for today to renew my visa. (Funny story - me and the other two American elders in my group and our companions traveled the 7 hours here and went to go renew, but the secretary had forgotten a part of the process, so we can´t even renew them. But...it´s all good!) So Sister Draut was transfered BACK to Camobi on Tuesday, so I get to hang out with her and everyone here in Santa Maria for a day! Sister Lopes as well - she´s now in Ipiranga (it went back to being Sisters....President changed a lot this transfer!) So it´s good to be back and see everyone.
But aside from that exciting part, this week was pretty good! The best part of the week was a woman we´ve been working with - I put her name, but decided some stuff was kind of personal, so we´ll call her Maria. So, it was amazing to see what happened with her this week. We´ve been working with her ever since we got here (or, there - Uruguaiana). She´s amazing - just one of those people who accepts the gospel with an open heart and absolutely believes it from day 1. She´s young, I would say not even 30, but has 6 kids, the oldest 11 and the youngest 2 months. She lives way down at the edge of the town, literally on the river (it was pretty far away at first but with all the rain lately, it´s up to 20 feet from her house). She´s what people here call humble - has a house made of 2x4s with a dirt floor, etc. She´s amazing, and has such an easiness and willingness to believe - when she prayed about the Book of Mormon she got the answer to "keep moving forward" with it, so she knows we´re sent from God and is willing to do whatever He wants her to do.
So we´ve always known she was that amazing, but it was even more awesome to see what happened with her this week. So in a meeting last Sunday with the ward leaders, we were talking about all of our investigators. We mentioned her and how great she was, but that something always happened to keep her from coming to church (her baby had to go to the hospital, etc...) So our ward mission leader said, "She´s really poor and has all those kids....can´t we do something for her?" We wouldn´t have said anything about it, but the response was amazing. The stake counselor got excited about it and so did all the other leaders, about helping out this woman they had never met. They decided to get together all the clothes they could for the kids, the ward mission leader and the bishop´s counselor planned a visit there to ask if they could take them, and....it all happened.
Normally we have meetings like this and it´s kind of normal for none of the plans to happen, but the response about Maria was amazing. They got together all kinds of clothes, the visits really happened, she accepted the help, the Bishop´s counselor and his wife hit it off amazingly with her and planned to go there Saturday night just to hang out, them and all their kids...and we became background players in her story, which we couldn´t be happier about. Suddenly she was surrounded by a ward family, offering to help her out when she needed it and truly becoming her friends. And the best part was seeing her and all of the kids in church yesterday! They came on foot (kind of an accomplishment, they live in the farthest neighborhood) alone, no one went to go walk with them or pick them up, they just came. I was so happy! This is how it´s supposed to be - we should be just minor characters in introducing people to their ward family. Our ward has been so weak, and it´s hard for the people to get along about anything, but they all got together behind Maria and the result was incredible.
The best part on Sunday was showing them the baptismal font. "Maria"´s neighbor, who actually really is named Maria, was baptized in May, and it turns out they´re actually relatives through marriage, but neither knew the other had ties to the church. So her neighbor said, "That´s where I was baptized! I hope you´ll be baptized too." And she said, "Yeah, that´s what I´m on the path for!" She´s so great - she´ll be an amazing member of the church. I´m so excited for her, and for our ward for being so amazing:)
So that was my story of the week! Everything´s going well, we have some really good people, and the members are getting more and more excited to help us, so it´s wonderful. It´s great working with Sister Cantuara, so....I couldn´t be happier! I´m so glad to be here, and I know it´s exactly where I should be. Sunday during sacrament meeting I was just filled with such an amazing feeling of happiness and peace, the kind that only comes from serving the Lord. I know more and more every day that this gospel is true - you don´t get that kind of feeling from a lie. Thank you so much for helping me get here! I love you all so much and am still praying for you always! :D
Til next week,
Sister Madsen
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