2 Investigators :)

hey'all.

i finally have investigators to write about this week! haha. i always feel bad when i don't have investigators to write about... this area is just really, really slow. but i promise it's not because sister brown and i are slacker missionaries! ;) heavenly father finally blessed us for our diligence this week. it was actually a really cool story... and it just goes to show how important it is to always be worthy of the spirit!!

so wednesday was a pretty interesting day... we read our schedule wrong and missed our morning temple shift--we thought we were on the night shift. so basically we ended up having a full day in our area and 6 plan-less hours. :( when that happens, it can be difficult for me to keep a good attitude. in addition to that, sister brown wasn't feeling very well, and it's always harder to get things done when you're companion's distracted by her bodily complaints. but i decided to work hard anyway, and do my best to listen to heavenly father and figure out what he wanted us to do with our time that was completely up in the air. because of that, i kept the spirit with me, and we ended up having a pretty good night... and when we went home and planned for the next day, we were still in tune with the spirit.

we were in the middle of setting back-up plans for the next day when i felt unsure about a name we had chosen. it wasn't a huge prompting or anything, i almost just ignored it and moved on, but then i thought, "it's better safe than sorry, and it's just a back up plan..." so we chose a different name. well. turns out that appointment cancelled, so we ended up visiting our back up plans after all. it was like 8:10 pm, 20 minutes before we were supposed to head home, and i kinda just felt done with the day. but when we stopped at this woman's house (a less active who lives with her non-member family) something awesome happened. her husband let us in right away, something we weren't expecting. and then as we were talking to her, this woman's granddaughter appeared. she started asking us questions, and then explained that she was just in saint george at her friend's sister's farewell. that was the first time she had ever been to a mormon church... her friend was less-active for a long time and had recently decided she wants to get back into it. we asked her if she wanted to join us for the lesson, and she said "sure." :) and at the end, when we asked her if she wanted to learn more, she said yes. :) :) yay! it was SO OBVIOUS that heavenly father had been preparing this girl to meet us. it is not a coincidence that we came to her house and this random time in her life where her good friend decides to be active again. and just to think... if i hadn't kept a good attitude the day before, if i hadn't listened to that TINY little prompting... we never would have found her! you'd never guess that the actions of one day lead into the next, but they DO. every choice we make affects our opportunities in the future. HEAVENLY FATHER IS SO GOOD. :) :) and we are excited to keep teaching kim, we really hope it goes somewhere promising. :)

the other investigator that we picked up is a guy named rick that the ASL elders ran into. :) he's not deaf though--they just knocked on his house looking for a deaf person and he was there instead, and he said we could come back. :) he's pretty skeptical, but very nice and willing to listen. i just hope he'll listen long enough for the spirit to get the chance to work on him. yay for the chance to REALLY teach again!! i love teaching. it's my favorite part.

it's such a privilege to be a part of this work. when i sit here to write about my week, i go back through my planner to remember the experiences i want to tell you about... and just hit me how many people, members and nonmembers alike, that i have the opportunity to love and influence. and i'm eternally grateful. i dunno... especially when time is running out, you really appreciate each experience more than the last. (i hit my 4-months-left mark this week.... gah.)

my motto of the last couple weeks, in order to more fully utilize my time as the lord's servant, has been "don't listen to satan." it can be easy to think about the last year of my mission and wonder if i did everything i was supposed to... and it can be easy to entertain those discouraging thoughts. but i read a quote from elder holland that really stood out to me: "god doesn't care nearly as much about where you have been as where you are going." so every time i start to live in the past, i make myself stop and focus on the present. and it's amazing how much of a difference it makes. :) i would encourage you all to do the same.

other fun things: we went to the zoo last week! :) san diego has the coolest zoo ever. much better than the hoogle zoo. we had a blast, and our recent convert family came with us, so it was great. i'll attach pictures.

elder ballard is coming to speak to us tomorrow! he's here every summer. :) we're pretty spoiled. i'll have to tell you all about it next week!

i love you soooo much! and the gospel is the best thing EVER! :)

love

sister madsen