Monday, July 25, 2016

More pictures June 6, 2016

Our last day with Sister Thueson. She is going to be a great full time
missionary someday


And the last picture I took with sister smith! (Rip) funny thing is
this is a picture of ALL of the companions I have had on my mission so
far. Sister Ensign was follow up training Sister Anderson who was my
MTC companion. Crazy. This is my work and my glory




Schaumburg more like Schaumburger June 6, 2016

Hola

Currently I am in an autoshop getting the oil in our car changed and enjoying some much needed AC. The news is on about this upcoming election and I am doing everything to avert my eyes and ears from the insanity. Good luck to all of you at home haha! So Schaumburg, it's great, Our area is huge since it is a whole stake and I'm thinking that I might pick up some Spanish because certain areas in our mission are 70% Spanish speakers apparently. I am very excited. But I have no idea what I am doing. We do a lot of walking around searching for anyone who looks YSA walking down the streets. I have never walked so much in my life. But Illinois is green and beautiful so I don't mind. This area is going to put my creativity to the test because it is obvious that none of the standard finding methods are going to be productive here. I've been thinking of what I, as a YSA myself, did during my free time when I was home and unfortunately all that comes to mind is all the glorious naps that I took. What do YSA who are cooler than me do in their free time?? Nobody seems to know. We are going to walk around this forest preserve later today and see if we can't find any outdoorsy young folk who are looking to hear more about the gospel. Hopefully we can spend some time on some of the college campuses and maybe even on the metro. If anyone else can think of where the youth of the world gather please let us know. Hanging around malls and empty parks has grown very old very fast haha. I need to talk to some people!! 
The Branch is great though, there are about 30 people who come to church every Sunday so it is VERY different. But I like it. It won't be difficult to get to know everyone in a short amount of time. 
However in the span of one week I have gotten two marriage proposals and a brother who wanted to take his picture with us, so I guess YSA is everything that everyone says it is hahaha. But really. This ward averages a baptism every other month so it has a lot of potential!! I am excited to be here. 
The day of my arrival we found out that we would be having a mini missionary. This is a really cool thing that I wish I had known about pre-mish. A sister comes out with us on like a Wednesday or something and stays until Sunday and she basically gets to experience a little teaser of what missionary life has in store. So sister Thueson and I got to spend our first few days in Schaumburg together and it was crazy. But we did have a cool experience. One of the things I love to do is wave at everyone we see whether they are in cars or walking by or on their bikes or whatever. It's always fun to see everyone reaction no matter what it is. Anyways we waved at this one car as we were walking back to ours and he waved back and then pulled over and started talking to us. He told us he wasn't religious but he wanted to go to a place where he could meet more people like us and we were like WE CAN HELP YOU WITH THAT. We exchanged information and gave him the address to the church and he said he would come. This happens a lot when we invite people to church so I didn't think much of it. Obviously I hope and want them to come, but I guess I just don't really expect it, which probably isn't a good thing. BUT about 15 min before sacrament we get this call from an unknown number and it's Aldopho!! He said he wanted to come but lost the address so we gave it to him again and he said he would be there soon. He still didn't show, but it was cool anyways!! That we found someone who might possibly have an interest in the church and all we did was wave. There are two lessons that I am continually relearning on my mission. 
#1 missionary work is not as hard or as complicated as it seems. It can be as simple as telling someone what you did at church that week. The only recognizable thing that separates me as a missionary is my name tag. And honestly all my name tag is is a visual excuse for me to be able to talk to strangers about the gospel. Putting a picture of the temple as your phone screensaver or wearing one of those ctr rings can be your "name tag" and can help you have more opportunities to share the gospel. Tell people what you know when they ask, and then hand them over to the missionaries. Heavenly Father doesn't expect us all to go and serve full time missions. But he does expect us to stand as witnesses of Jesus Christ. So when opportunities for missionary work come, don't worry! be proud of your faith and don't hide it 
#2 the simple things are important. All it takes is a prayer to be able to talk with our Heavenly Father. All it takes is a wave to teach someone about Jesus Christ. All it takes is one persons testimony  I know how much this church can bless and change people's lives and it's just exciting to be able to see that in action. I hope you all have a good week and that you look for chances to be a missionary. And I'll do the same ;)

Sister Madsen 

Oh and my new companion Sister Ensign is from Sandy Utah. She has one more transfer left after this one. She loves hiking and all things outdoors and before the mission she used to work at classic skating. 
The dream.

Hope you all have a good week