Swimming Along... :)

Why hello. :)

So, as if missionary time isn't warped enough... I feel like my concept of time is getting even more twisted because there's no change of season down here! (Okay... there's a slight one. But not enough to make me feel like time is going on as normal. :P) For all of you Utahns up there enjoying the fall colors, LOVE it while you have it! But hey, at least there's one thing that fall brings no matter where you are in the world... I am SO EXCITED for General Conference!! I think it's going to mean more than it ever has to me while I'm on my mission... just like the gospel means more now than it ever has in the past. ;) I LOVE OUR PROPHET AND APOSTLES. I hope you all are getting ready for it, too. We are so lucky to have such inspired men to help us out in this crazy, demanding world!

Don't have much to report on this week... there were three whole days this week that we taught absolutely ZERO lessons. :( Of course, half of our day is at the Battalion, but I'm not used to that! Our branch is so amazing that we always have lessons to teach. I haven't had a taste of the "knockin on doors with no luck" very much yet, which I'm really grateful for. (Not that we tract, anyway, but we do go to houses of former investigators when we don't have lessons to fill our time... it's very draining and not all that fruitful.) I guess it's good for me to get a taste of though. My mission is just a well-oiled machine so I'm not accustomed to all that... I'm very spoiled. ;)

Bill is doing GREAT though! He is preparing for baptism this Saturday and has gone almost 4 days without smoking!! Yay! Whatever clicked in his mind and heart has brought about a big change in his commitment. When I sat by him in Sunday school this week, he seemed to be more cheery and friendly, and I realized how much I really love that kid now! It's amazing how much you grow to love the people you serve... Heavenly Father really lets you have a taste of the joy he feels when someone he cares about comes closer to Him. Bill still has Satan working really hard on him though, so pray for him to make it this week!

Lesson of the week: Line upon line, precept upon precept. (Weird... I feel like this is a lesson I have "learned" before... funny how we have to keep learning these things over and over again, right? ;) ) As much as I have grown up in the church and supposedly should have a lot of gospel knowledge because of that, I feel super unintelligent lately!! Haha. :) I feel like there's just so much to learn still. I want to read everything--the whole missionary library, the Ensigns, the whole Bible, etc--and know everything all at once!! AND, us Battalion sisters only get HALF the personal study time as normal missionaries. :( But I am trying to learn to be happy with what gospel knowledge I'm gaining, slowly but surely. 

That's about it for this week! Hope life is going GREAT for all of you. :) I miss you and pray for you.

Love,

Sister Madsen