Missionary work is CRAZY... all kinds of crazy. Good crazy, happy crazy, spiritual crazy, and... well, crazy crazy. :) That pretty much sums up everything I've been feeling over the past week. I'm still working on eating the elephant one bite at a time... and I'm making progress, slowly but surely! But hey, that's what life's about: constantly making progress. We will never reach a point in this life in which our progress will be "finished." There is no "arrival point." So keeping that in mind is helpful. I don't have to perfect NOW. (Thank heavens.)
I gave my first tour all by myself last Tuesday! I was so nervous! And, surprise, surprise, it had to be my very first tour that the technology malfunctioned. I was pretty flustered and embarrassed, because it totally threw off the tour. Luckily, though, my guests were all members and they were super nice about it. :) I ended up just laughing it off, and now I'm practically a pro at tours. (Okay, not really. :P But I've given a lot!)
We also went on to the Marine Base for the first time this week to teach one of our less actives! My companions had never been there either, so we were all nervous about it... we'd heard some tall tales about all the mean security guards. It was a silly thing to be nervous about though, which we realized once they let us in. ;) I never realized how big Marine bases are! They're like little towns in themselves! It was fun... and we got lost a lot. We made like 25 U-turns but eventually we found him. :) Jonmikel just turned 21 yesterday, and I guess a lot of Marines drink... so he's struggling not to drink now that he's legal! So pray for Jonmikel!
Anyone ever heard of flicker ball?? It's ultimate frisbee with a football on a basketball court. You shoot the football in the hoop instead of having and "end zone..." and IT IS SOOO FUN! We've played it multiple times this week with all the Battalion sisters during our exercise time. Surprisingly we have a lot of athletic (or at least capable) sisters. :) So, even without softball, my need for some kind of athletic competition in my life has been satisfied. Ha.
Three deaf people came into the Battalion the other day and I got to show them around! (They didn't take a full tour cause they didn't have time, so thankfully I didn't have to interpret that... I just got to sign as myself instead. :) ) Everyone was right--the promise that I'd have a chance to use my ASL on my mission came true! It felt sooo good to sign again! I miss it being part of my life everyday! I hope I'll have many more opportunities like that while I'm here.
Lastly, Elder Ballard was here this weekend!! He gave a fireside on Sunday for our whole mission to bring investigators to! He gave an amazing talk about the restoration, and I don't know how every single investigator there wasn't converted right on the spot. Oh... and I sang. As in, there were 8 of us who sang a special musical number in front of hundreds of people who were there to listen to an apostle, and I was part of it. !!! Can you believe that? I was pretty much the only one who didn't have some kind of vocal/choir experience, but they roped me into it anyway. I'm glad they did though, it was a really beautiful arrangement of Joseph Smith's first prayer. I wish you could have heard it. :) And then, the next day, we had another meeting with Elder Ballard that was just for the missionaries. :) It was amazing. (In case some of you didn't know, my mission president's wife is Elder Ballard's daughter... so we got a special treat. :) )
We also got a few potential investigators this week: Hannah, Brett, Moises, Tyler, and William. We haven't met most of them yet, but we're going to try to add them as investigators this week, so keep them in your prayers since we only have one right now!
I love you all! Remember that as long as we do our best to follow Christ in this life, Heavenly Father is proud of us!
Love,
Sister Madsen
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