Happy Thanksgiving!

Welp. Hi again.
Hope you all had a great thanksgiving.... I sure did! It was one of the best days of my mission! And it was special for more than one reason. I had an amazing experience that day during personal study. I was in 2 Nephi 4 and I was thinking a lot about the time I've spent on my mission up til now (I know I always write about this)... so I finally decided to pray right then and there and ask Heavenly Father how I've been doing on my mission so far. I've just been so stressed about the line between "not doing enough" and "stop stressing about doing it perfectly." And it is AMAZING how much Heavenly Father is aware of me... the last page of my personal study that day was from Elder Ballard's "Our Search for Happiness" book.. not sure if I've ever gotten a faster, more specific answer than I did just then. I can't type the whole thing out... but let it suffice to say that every word on that page directly related to the question I had just prayed about. It was absolutely incredible. And I only realized how powerful it was when I was explaining it to Sister Miller after the fact... So we had a really great/emotional conversation. And I came to the conclusion that I'm doing okay. :) I will always be grateful for that experience.
Then we had Thanksgiving dinner at the Battalion! it's hard to miss being home for the holidays when you have a second home that feels just as special... and family--all my sisters and four set of adopted "grandparents"--all around you. :) It was absolutely wonderful. And I stuffed myself to the point that I felt sick, of course. And to top it all off that day, Vinod came to meet us for a lesson at the Battalion, and bless his heart, he brought us two beautiful gifts for thanksgiving... they were glass vases in the shape of swans with a rose in them. He is the darn cutest little human I have ever met. It was so sweet. And he's doing great!! Baptism is reset! We're excited for him.
So, I had a great Thanksgiving. I also had one of the hardest days that I've ever had in my entire mission on Sunday. I can't even write about all the things that added up to make it so. But we decided it all happened because we had just had a great discussion in our district meeting a couple days before about diligence... so that was the attribute we wanted to work on together. Well. Praying for diligence is like praying for patience. Everything goes wrong after you do so... and overcoming those things is how you gain more. :P It didn't help that we had just learned of the new mission goal for December: 20 baptisms a week. (We've only been averaging 10.) And THREE of our four solid investigators that we thought would contribute to that goal basically crushed our hopes on Sunday. ALL IN THE SAME DAY. :( It was awful. But life goes on, and I had a lot to learn from that experience. It took a LOT to humble myself after I was in such a terrible mood that day. I didn't even feel like praying, I was so upset. But eventually I did. Boy am I grateful for forgiveness. Heavenly Father still needs me to be a missionary, I guess, because He
lets me keep going even when I struggle.
I'm so grateful to be a missionary. :) I'm terrible at putting my thoughts and feelings into words, so that's the best I can do. But I love this opportunity, I love the people I get to spend my time with, and I love my Heavenly Father.
Also, I love this season! I'm excited to see how it will soften
people's hearts... this time of year always does. :) Happy Holidays!!Yay!!
Love,
Sister Madsen