yes, it's STILL 85 degrees... but it finally rained once!

Hi all!

I've decided that Heavenly Father definitely knows when it's time for a change... Transfers were last Wednesday! I lost my wonderful Sister Ortez. :( I will miss her lots and lots. But I still get to see her around at the Battalion, so thank heavens for that. AND, I am still in my lovely, amazing, FANTASTIC Black Mountain Branch. :) I love my branch so much. But the best news is that I'm companions with Sister MILLER!!

THERE ARE NOT WORDS TO DESCRIBE HOW INCREDIBLE THIS MISSIONARY IS.

She is everything I want to be and more. And she has gotten me excited about being a missionary again! Sometimes we just need refreshers, I think. :) Because of her, I have seen so many miracles in this past week. She expects miracles. She has so much faith. She is confident in her ability to serve and confident that the Lord will bless us with people put in our path that need to hear the gospel so long as we are strictly obedient. And she's just happy and loving and fun and enjoys life, which makes ME enjoy it more too. The funny part is that Sister Miller and I came out the same day... we were in the MTC together and everything! But she is DEFINITELY a lot farther down the "successful missionary" road than I am. Ha. :P I cannot count the times that I have already thanked my Heavenly Father with all sincerity of heart for Sister Miller! I love her so much! And I'm really trying to capitalize on this positive, selfless energy she's got me going on. I am learning SO MUCH from her and I really need to put it into practice and make it habit before I slip back into the plateau I felt like I had hit.

Let me give you an example: It is amazing what the tiniest grain of faith can do. Sister Miller and I had an hour planned in our area the other night to go contact former investigators because we didn't have any appointment. For the first months of my mission, this tended to be kind of a fruitless task for us. But Sister Miller had just the opposite experience with contacting. She calls it unplanned miracle time. :) She basically told me how she KNEW that there would always be people placed in our path that we needed to talk to on visits like these, even if it wasn't the former investigator we planned on seeing--we just had to talk to everyone. That's what sparked my desire to really believe, like she did, that there were miracles awaiting us. RIGHT THEN. So... that tiny like spark inspired a simple prayer of faith that I offered right before we left the apartment. Believe it or not, having faith is something I still struggle with! Yet when I do have miracle experiences that come about because I exercise the smallest particle of faith, I don't continue to look for them, or to have more! It's like I subconsciously restrict myself to one rare miracle here and there. WHY?? I don't know. I'm silly.

Well... that little prayer of faith actually worked. We were at an apartment complex trying to find the right unit, and a lady was looking through her window at us, so we asked her for help... we ended up explaining who we were, of course... and she kept listening. She didn't just walk away. It was so unexpected. So we started telling her more about what we believe. And she invited us into her house! We basically taught her and her 19 year old daughter the restoration, and she said we could come back! She was so nice and so fun to talk to ... she has a little sassy spunk in her. Her name is Mari, and her daughter's name is Cynthia. :) It was amazing! I couldn't believe it. Heavenly Father rewarded me for the smallest bit of TRUST I put forth. It just goes to show that He really does intend to use me while I'm out here if I'll only believe that He will... regardless of my immeasurable weaknesses and imperfections.

So the theme of the week has been "help thou my unbelief." I don't want my lack of faith to limit the people I teach any more! But like I said, the problem is this: I learn a lot of lessons without internalizing them. Wouldn't it be nice if every time we learned something new about how to progress in the gospel we could just be perfect at it right then?? :) Also, I think a lot of this is having faith in myself. I just need confidence that I actually have a lot more to offer than just teaching lessons and hoping things work out for the best... and that I can play more than just the supporting role. That's what I feel like I've been most of the time that I've been out here. I want to change that, slowly but surely. :)

Other miracles of the week: 

1. Mario FINALLY came to church on Sunday! We think he liked it, too. He even participated in Sunday School! I overheard him talking to another member about coming next week, as well! So exciting. SO HAPPY HE CAME!

2. Micheal Jensen, a less-active we've been trying to contact for months, came to church too! We stopped by his house on Saturday and he happened to be on his porch. Coincidence? Nope! Coincidence that I thought of going to his house right then? Nope! So we invited him to church the next day and he actually came! Holy smokes... that faith thing... blows my mind.

3. Jared Walker (less active) AND Vinod both ended up going to the branch service project on Saturday! AND Vinod went to church at a different sacrament meeting with another member of our branch since he couldn't come to ours because it was too late in the day!

4. Bill passed the sacrament! He bought a suit and everything! The change in that kid is absolutely incredible. The gospel truly does bring happiness! It's so apparent in him.

5. This sweet deaf girl (member) came into the battalion a couple days ago. I gave her a tour in ASL and found out she needed a lot of help... she was in a pretty rough situation. So I got her in contact with the deaf ward bishop afterward and did everything I could to help. She ended up calling him and he took her to church. Yesterday, she wheeled herself all the way back (she's wheel chair bound) just to tell me thank you! It took her hours to get here! It was so incredibly sweet of her, it broke my heart.

6. It finally RAINED for once! I love rainy days! It just made my heart so happy. Rain is so different here... is super light. But great. :) Don't worry though, we're back to 85 degree weather. :P I miss my seasons.

So many tender mercies this week! I am so blessed! Being on a mission is the best... sometimes I wonder how I ever let myself think otherwise! :)

I love you!

Sister Madsen

General Conference Happiness!

Hi everybody!!!

I CANNOT, cannot even tell you how much I was FREAKING OUT about the announcement at General Conference!!!!!!! Holy smokes! That is all everyone has been talking about around here, of course. :) We have analyzed every inch of the change that's going to happen and the possibilities. Soooo exciting!! There are going to be SO many more sisters serving now. :) :) :) Watch out, elders, you're not going to outnumber us before long!!

Conference was amazing. I've never experienced conference the way I did while I've been on my mission. It was incredible how I could apply every single talk to my current situation/concerns. There is definitely something to be said for inspiration--no two people "hear" the same talk. I was writing notes like crazy. :) I think my favorite two talks, though, were President Uchtdorf's and President Eyring's. I love the concept of looking back on life with no regrets--and in this case, looking back on my mission. I definitely want to be able to say, after I get home, that I truly loved those around me, that became the person I wanted to be, and that I was happy! It definitely made me think about what I need to change to make that happen. And President Eyring's talk about the pavillion that covereth His hiding place... that we create it ourselves... definitely something I needed to hear. I am so incredibly grateful for inspired leaders!  I LOVE CONFERENCE! The only sad thing is that every battalion sister had to be on shift for at least one session... :( So I missed the Sunday afternoon session. I'm going to have to go back and watch it. But, on the positive side, I got to watch the Saturday afternoon session at a member's home with a whole bunch of people I love. :) It felt just like home. Heavenly Father loves me.

TRANSFERS ARE TOMORROW!! Ahh!! I am officially "trained"!! So crazy. I found out already that Sister Ortez is no longer going to be my companion. Sad day. :( She is being transferred out of the area and training a new sister. It will be so hard to be in my area without her!! I'm really afraid that I won't be able to get to the people we've been teaching if she leaves. I'll miss her so much. I know it's going to be a challenge for me to be the experienced one in my area, but I also know that it will help me grow TONS. Another great thing is that I've narrowed it down to 3 possibilities of who my new companion could be... and all three are sisters I came out with and grew super close to in the MTC!! :) So I'm super excited to see who it will be.

Fun stories of the week:

1. I got to play PING PONG last Tuesday!! We played a super fun version of around-the-world where you toss the paddles. It was crazy awesome. And don't worry, I CREAMED the Elder I played against. :)

2. I got to play ultimate frisbee today!! Heavenly Father is blessing me with all the great things I LOVE to do lately. :)

3. One day, I was walking back to our apartment from the battalion with another sister named Sister Mendez. As were walking into the apartment and down the hallway, she was going on about something and I was just looking down at the ground... and suddenly she let out the most horrific, blood-curdling scream I have EVER heard in my life. My heart literally stopped. I have never felt more adrenaline shoot through my body than I did right then! I could have sworn someone was running at her with a chainsaw or something... but no, turns out it was just a silly little bird that had flown into the hallway and scared her! Oh man. It was so funny. I'll never forget it.

4. While we were on shift at the temple, we went to get something to eat at the cafeteria. After we were done eating, a lady came up to us and asked if we wouldn't mind sparing a little time to help out in the kitchen--it was a friday night and the poor girl on shift was all by herself trying to serve/ring up a whole line of people. So I got to do some service inside the temple! :) I wish we could have gotten a picture of ourselves in our huge white kitchen coats that totally drowned us. It was great.

Miracle story of the week:

I don't know if you all remember an Indian girl that I talked about named Raj. But we invited her to be baptized the day we met her. She was super excited, but her parents were not. So she has been completely avoiding us ever since she talked to them about it. We had been trying and trying for weeks to get her to meet with us again... and one day we called her phone and it said it was no longer in service. So we thought we'd just show up at her house since we had the excuse of "your phone isn't working." :) And she was there! She is such a sweet girl... she pretty much confessed that she had been distancing herself from us and all of the branch members because she felt sooo bad about telling us she couldn't be baptized. So it was great that we had the chance to tell her we weren't in any way offended, that we still loved her to death and that we just wanted to keep seeing her every so often. :) Hopefully we'll see more of her now.

I love you all so much and I hope that conference was a great dose of spiritual medicine for each of you like it was for me! Thanks for all the prayers you send my way!

Love,

Sister Madsen

Bill got dunked!

Dear loved ones,

How is everybody doing? Guess what I found out that I have been misunderstanding this whole time? Anyone and everyone is allowed to email me. :) I'm just not allowed to email back. So for those of you who would rather email than send letters, or find it more convenient: mckenzie.madsen@myldsmail.net :) I'd love to hear from ALL of you!!

BILL MURRAY (yes, that's really his name) IS BAPTIZED!! :D On Wednesday he had his interview, and he passed. I never thought I'd see the day... in case I didn't mention this before, he was originally RLDS. AND, he did so, SO good at keeping the word of wisdom. I am very pleasantly surprised with the changes he's made and the commitment he's shown. His baptism on Saturday was literally the funniest baptism I have ever been to. Everything went wrong. Okay, not wrong... just a little abnormal. :) First, our whole ward had been at a camping trip the night before, so our ward mission leader was scrambling to get everything together super last minute... and we were so grateful for the few members of our ward who sacrificed a little time on the camping trip to make it to the baptism! (We should have planned that better. Oops.) So the program started, and Courtney, who was supposed to be part of the musical number, wasn't even there yet--she texted us right as it was starting and said she had just gotten off of work and was on her way. That meant we had to stall til she showed up... but we were starting 10 minutes late as it was. So we whispered to Mike, who we had asked just to bear a simple testimony, to talk until she got there. He didn't have anything prepared. So he just whipped something out about the baptism of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdry, and looked out the window every now and then, waiting for her to show up... :) and right when he said "in the name of Jesus Christ, amen," Courtney walked in the door and walked straight up the front of the room to start singing. It was super funny. And THEN, half way through the musical number, someone whispered in our ear that the font was draining! We rushed out of the room--I felt SO bad--and ran to the font. It was still plugged but for some reason the water was super low! So Bill was baptized on his knees!! But that wasn't even the best part... As the cherry on top, Bill was TRIPLE dunked before it was done all the way right. :) Ha ha. It was great. The moral of the story is that it was a very memorable baptism, and regardless of everything that happened, the Spirit was still very present, and another child of God has entered into his first covenant to gain eternal life. :) He was also confirmed and received the Aaronic Priesthood on Sunday, and all went well with that too. Hooray!!

The other miracle that happened on Sunday was that one of our less actives who we have been working with FOREVER, Halden, was finally cleared to pass the sacrament!!  He even passed the sacrament to our row, so it was extra special. :) I am soooo happy for him!! It took him a lot of effort to quit smoking. He went for a couple weeks without it and then gave in again... :( and then this last week we tried the church's program for quitting, and it finally worked! I really think it will be for good this time. I love that kid with all my heart, I was SO proud that he got to pass!!

I also had kind of a cool experience teaching a lesson last Tuesday night. We were teaching Jonmikel, another less active, and he's been... slipping a little lately. It's really sad because for weeks he was doing sooo good. But he took a trip home for a week, and that didn't help... he's also been thinking about his dad a lot recently because it's his birthday month (his dad passed away a couple years ago). So he's pretty down and went drinking last weekend. :( He wasn't being very responsive to us as we were teaching him, and I hated seeing him so shut off and sad... I was trying so hard to discern his needs and get him to open up. As we were talking about his dad, who wasn't a member of the church and never liked religion, an idea suddenly popped in my head: he should pray to know whether his dad has accepted the gospel on the other side of the veil. I really don't think that thought came from me, and I got really excited about it. :) Even though it didn't lead to some awesome spiritual experience during the lesson, it was just cool to feel like I received inspiration from out of nowhere. And Jonmikel said he'd try it.. so we'll see what comes of it. I hope he really will.

I got to watch the Relief Society broadcast on Saturday, too. :) AND... I interpreted the first ten minutes of it for a couple deaf women that were there! They were having trouble getting captions going at first... so even though I really didn't want to because I am SO incredibly rusty, I knew Heavenly Father wouldn't be very happy with me if I didn't use what little ability I have to help someone in time of need. Have I mentioned that I love ASL?

Shout out to Danny and Jessica: your friends whose house you worked on, Mike and Marci I think were their names, came into the battalion this week! :) They said, "You don't happen to know someone named Danny Madsen who lives in South Provo and owns his own AC business, do you?" And I said, "Why, yes, that's my amazing uncle!!" :) They think you're great. I think you're great too. :)

Welp. I'm out of time. Love, love, love you all!!

Sister Madsen

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

3 Month Mark

Hola. :)
I'd like you all to know I'm going to be famous. :) Yesterday a film crew came in to make a commercial about Old Town.... which includes the Mormon Battalion of course! I am the star of the outfitting room (one of the rooms on our tour). Ha. :) So if between October and February you can somehow figure out a way to channel into the local San Diego TV station, you'll see me there making a fool of myself on television. :)
Heavenly Father blessed us LOTS with our investigators this week! :) Vinod is doing great! He accepted a baptism date! However, we'll still trying to get him to understand that church isn't something we do just for fun and that we're different than every other church... and that baptism is a life-long commitment, not something we do just to "check out" the religion. But he's starting to feel something... whenever he comes to FHE or has lessons with us, he says he "feels good"... as well as when he prays. He's having subtle spiritual experiences, we just need to help him recognize what they mean. :) He's such a great kid though! I love it when he prays... "in the name of the Jesus... amen." He called Jesus, "the Jesus Christ." It's great.
We also added two new investigators this week! One is Raj, who is also from India. She came here just over a year ago and since then has gained the strongest testimony of God and Jesus Christ... and she was originally Hindu! She has gone through so much trying to establish herself in America, and the way she talks about God and Jesus... we were in shock. And when we told her she needed to read the Book of Mormon and follow the first principles/ordinances of the gospel she didn't even hesitate. She was all for it. :) So she accepted a date the first night we met her!! So prepared!! Unfortunately though, she told her parents back in India... and they weren't very happy. :( :( Stupid Satan. So she's not exactly planning on it anymore... but we're going to keep trying, so please please please pray for Raj, and for her parents' hearts to be softened. And the other investigator we added is Shekema. She's only 18, which is a hard age sometimes, but she seems relatively promising... like she's got a good head on her shoulders. So hopefully she'll keep our appointments. :) We're going to see her again tomorrow.
Oh! And biggest miracle of the week! I almost forgot! We have an investigator that we have been on the verge of dropping for a couple weeks now... we haven't been putting much effort into him anymore cause he's been so unresponsive. But for some reason he actually came to the Battalion when we invited him. He was with one of his member friends. After they left they had like a 4 hour conversation... and later that night we got a text that said, "Okay, Tucker convinced me. I want him to be the one to baptize me though." ???? It was SO out of the blue!!! :) :) So we're super excited for him... now we just need to get him living the commandments, which might be a little tricky, but we'll work it out. :) I can't even tell you how random and unexpected that was, but hey, guess the Lord knew he was ready even though we had no idea.
Here's a snippet (that's a word, right? :) ) from my journal this week about an awesome experience I had: "A couple came into the battalion tonight and I took them on a tour... the lady was from England and didn't seem super intrigued by the religious aspects (although she was super smiley and nice). So I prayed for help with a skill I have been really struggling with: the ability to initiate a natural, genuine conversation with visitors and THEN tying in the gospel as prompted by the spirit. And it worked! Of course, it helped that they were talkative people and had a lot of questions. :) But I didn't feel nervous or awkward the whole time I was talking to them, and I really felt the spirit throughout the conversation--we talked a lot about the church and the Book of Mormon, and even though they didn't refer, they were willing to read it. I KNOW I planted a really good seed, and after they left I just felt like that was what was supposed to happen with that couple, and Heavenly Father was proud of me. :) It felt so good!" Now if only I could remember that experience and apply it every time I talk to visitors at the battalion, I'd be in good shape... ;)
I love you all!! I know I say that every week but it's true!! :) Keep strengthening your testimony! I know that what I'm trying to do with mine... I feel like it's never strong enough. But hey that's what life's about... we HAVE to keep building our testimonies til the day we die! And someday they'll be perfect. :)
Love,
Sister Madsen

Faith & Softball :)

Hi everybody. It's me again. :)
More great miracles have happened this week, as always. Vinod and Mario are doing pretty good! We had a lesson with Mario last Wednesday night that went really well... and if things keep going well he said he'll be baptized on October 13th! He accepted a date! I was pretty nervous to ask him to be baptized, so Heavenly Father sure helped me out on that one. (SOOOO intimidating.) :) And THEN he came to sports night that night and played soccer with the branch! Hooray! He's made a few friends now, or at least has some acquaintances in the branch. Now we just have to find time to keep teaching him... he just got a new job and works everyday, so he's been turning us down quite a bit. :( Pray that we can find time in both of our hectic schedules to teach him.
Vinod also has a crazy schedule... he is taking 18 credits at two different colleges AND working part time. So we've a hard time scheduling teaching visits with him, too. But he came to FHE last night! He seemed to like it and opened up when people started conversations with him. :) We're going to see him again this Thursday, as well. He has zero Christian background whatsoever cause he's from India... So we are starting from square one, which is a little harder! But if he is ready for the gospel I know things will work out.
Lesson of the week: POSITIVE ATTITUDE=FAITH. There were two days in a row this week where Heavenly Father totally blessed me just for trying to look on the bright side. One of the days we were on exchanges... in MY area! I was leading out all by myself! AND, unlike the last exchange I had, my companion was Sister Pagel, who just got here two weeks ago! All morning while we were at our temple shift I was stressing over our plans for the night because no one was responding to my texts/calls. On top of that, I was struggling with talking to people on the temple grounds... I feel super awkward and incapable when I'm trying to testify/discern the needs of the visitors without my companion! One German couple in particular were completely unresponsive to me and I left the conversation feeling very discouraged. But I was the senior companion for the day, so I felt extra-obligated to put on a cheery face and force myself to think optimistic thoughts. So I tried my very best. Then, all of the sudden, we got a phone call from an extremely less-active who we have been trying to visit for weeks and he said we could meet with him that night! Everything started looking up from there, and over the course of the night, Heavenly Father continued to bless us with people to fill our whole time with. It suddenly clicked for me that having a positive attitude means having faith. For some reason I had never linked the two together before. (It sounds a lot more simple in this email than the way it clicked in my head... to me it was like this monumental discovery! Wish I could explain it better. :P)
Last fun things:
1. RACHEL JOHNSON CAME INTO THE BATTALION! :D :D :D soooo good to see her.
2. I GOT TO PLAY SOFTBALL TODAY!!!! Like legit softball, with real gloves and real bats and a real ball and 7 players on each team (all from my zone) on a real red-dirt field. :D :D Heavenly Father LOVES me.

Love you all! Keep the gospel rolling forth! And watch Elder Holland's CES fireside if you get the chance, it was INCREDIBLE.
Love,
Sister Madsen

Pics with Jihye & Lily

Hi everybody. :)
Aren't Sundays just the best day ever?? Heavenly Father blessed us lots this Sunday: we had SIX less-actives--Chrissy, Robbie, Blase, Angel, Josh, and Jared--show up to church this week! We have been working with/meeting with all these people for quite a while, and it was so rewarding to see them all there this Sunday! Robbie and Blase even stayed for the whole 3 hours! :) AND, on top of that, one of our investigators, Vinod, came to church, and he stayed for all 3 hours as well! (Of course, we're still trying to figure out his intentions and gain an understanding of what he thinks we do all this for. ;) But we were so happy to have him there nonetheless!) It is so fulfilling to see our efforts blessed and to watch others make their way back to Christ, even though it takes one slow step at a time.
Lily was also confirmed this Sunday! She couldn't be confirmed the day after her baptism because it was stake conference, so she had to wait a week... We were a little worried about that, but we had no reason to worry whatsoever. Her confirmation was so good! She's officially a member! Of course, she was practically a member already... we even drove her to an appointment once because it seemed so natural that we didn't even realize we were breaking the rules (we are allowed to drive members but not investigators). :P So that was probably the best day at church that I've had since I got here. I was very happy. :)
Funny story about Vinod though... we showed up to his house for an appointment on Friday and something weird happened... Another man answered the door and told us he had no idea who we were looking for. The name "Vinod" was completely unfamiliar to him. He said he'd been living there for a year and the guy we were looking for must have moved a while ago... But we had just been there teaching him in that very apartment 5 days earlier! And then the man left because he was literally on his way out the door to catch a plane. He just left us with a "sorry, I can't help you." So we called Vinod's number to figure out what on earth was going on, and a woman answered and said we had the wrong number. (He also hadn't been replying to any of our texts.) We felt like we were in the twilight zone!! Suddenly he had just disappeared... it was like he never existed and we had just been dreaming the whole time that we had been teaching him!
So we looked at the referral card with his phone number on it and compared it to the number in our phone... turned out we were one digit off. :) So we called the right number and he answered and said he'd be home in a few minutes. When he showed up, we asked him why his own roommate didn't know who on earth he was, and he said that his roommate only knows him by his last name--he had never even told him his first name before!! It was super funny. We felt bad though because he said he had been waiting for us to contact him last Sunday like we said we would so he could come to church... turns out we had been inviting a random stranger that whole time instead of him. Oops. :P Glad we worked that out though. It was really weird there for a minute.
Lesson I learned this week: "don't run faster than you have strength." I think that too often I focus on all these crazy advanced missionary skills I want to develop, and I'm trying to skip right over the basics. But when you think about it, a convert has to start from square one... we don't start teaching them about Kolob, or, as Elder Holland puts it, about the "celestial body temperature of glorified beings." We teach them about the first simple steps: prayer, scripture reading, attending church, etc. Why am I an exception? I have to master the basics before I'm ever going to develop advanced missionary skills. :) So this week I decided to start with sincere prayer. I noticed that not all my prayers are as sincere or heart-felt as they could be... and as I've started to pray with sincere, focused effort, really putting my mind and heart into it, I've noticed a big change already. Sincere prayer, as the Bible dictionary puts it, aligns our will with God's. Our desires begin to change. :) I'm still not doing it perfectly, but it's sure helping.
Last fun thing: JIHYE PARK CAME INTO THE BATTALION YESTERDAY!! :D Yay! It was soooo fun to see her! I hope all my amazing 230th ward friends are doing great. (Feel free to come down and see me with Jihye next time she visits her family in San Diego. :) )
I love you all! So does Heavenly Father!
Love,
Sister Madsen