Where to begin..
SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED THIS WEEK. MUCHO. as it always does as we get
close to the end of transfers.. So I'll just list them out
I haven't run into any Jehovahs Witnesses my whole mission UNTIL NOW.
And we ran into two different sets in one week. It was crazy. The
first set were Spanish and we ran into them as we were stopping by a
potential investigator. They no doubt saw our name tags and made a bee
line towards us. At first I thought they were Elders until I saw this
little mini 8 year old JW walking with them and I knew it couldn't be
the Elders. His name was Kevin and I am forever grateful that he was
there. Otherwise I'm sure that the two older JWs would have thrown
down on us, and really it was too hot and we did not have the time for
that.. They still told us as much as humanly possible and tried to
give us their own pass along cards and invite us to go check out their
website..it was a very strange and almost out of body experience to be
on the other side of missionary work, but kudos to them, and to little
Kevin in his tan tuxedo for serving the Lord the best he knows how.
The other set of JWs were "off duty" or whatever they do when they
aren't walking around knockin on doors, but one of the two was just
giggling like crazy the whole time we were talking to them and I
couldn't figure out what his deal was and then he finally told us they
were JW and didn't really want to talk to us so we left. I've heard
horror stories about running into JWs though so I feel blessed.
The next thing I want to talk about is the miraculous event that
happened in the Starbucks of a hospital wing where we got three new
investigators in one lesson. We were trying to clear out our area book
which has information on pretty much anyone that has ever talked to
the missionaries and given them their phone number. We texted a ton of
people asking if they would be interested in learning more and got a
couple responses. Some were negative but it doesn't even matter
because we got a golden one from a former investigator named Jason. He
said he would love to learn more and asked if we could meet him the
next day at Starbucks haha what. We told him we could and that we were
excited to meet him and THEN he texted us asking if he could bring a
friend too HA we played it cool and said sure but inside we were
dying. Now, I would be lying if I said I wasn't at all suspicious that
we were going to this thing just to get bible bashed or ambushed in
the middle of Starbucks. I think it might have been just because of my
first area where that's all anyone seemed to want to do who met with
us or sought us out. Anyways I was not as excited as I should have
been, because ONE- that didn't happen. And TWO- he brought three
friends instead of one. It was amazing. They were all into it and
asking really good questions. Teaching groups can be kind of hard
sometimes, but teaching a group of YSAs is a completely different
story because as I have already established, they are all crazy. And
have a million different stories that seem to have to do with what you
are talking about but don't really. (For example ) needless to say our
chaos five person lesson full of questions and relatable tweets and
the occasional attempt at a coffee cup Instagram pic in the middle of
Starbucks in the middle of a hospital in the middle of Chicago was not
the most spiritual lesson I have ever taught. But we got them all to
LITERALLY follow the Prophet on Twitter. and while setting up our next
appointment we made Jason the designated person we would coordinate
with who would then text the rest of the group to invite them and
things like that. To which he exclaimed "I have been called prophet of
this group!! Everyone has to listen to me" so they actually did
understand what we taught them. Kind of..
Finally, Our long lost investigator Adolpho (the one we found simply
by waving at him) from the beginning of the transfer called us and
told us he was coming to church. He does this every Sunday so we
(mostly me) was a little skeptical about the whole thing. BUT he came.
He came an hour late but he came all the same. And it was good. For
the most part. Until the middle of Sunday school when he asked if
missionaries were allowed to have boyfriends, and it all went downhill
from there honestly. From compliments about our eyes, hair, clothes,
personality, literally anything as he tried to take pictures of us, to
attempts to get our first names and addresses, which escalated to him
LITERALLY telling both of us that he would love to marry either of us.
As we walked him back to his car he asked if we wanted to ditch this
place and he'd take us out for drinks. We politely declined.
We have made the decision to pass him off to the Elders
If you had asked me a couple weeks ago I would have guessed that
Sister Ensign and I would have stayed companions for another transfer
and she would have finished off her mission in the YSA but now I'm not
so sure. considering that on top of everything else, this week alone
Sister Ensign has received two date offers for when she goes home in a
month, and my face has been compared to that of Natalie Portman's.
It just seems that the YSA can't handle having sisters at this time,
maybe we should stop showering or something, I don't know.. IM JUST A
GIRL WANTING TO BE A MISSIONARY. WHY IS IT SO HARD. But who knows,
maybe we will both be transferred and they will bring some Elders in,
or maybe we will both stay and it will be a learning experience for
the both of us, or maybe I will leave and Sister Ensign will be left
to dodge her suitors on her own. Or maybe I'll stay and have to
comfort those mourning the loss of Sister Ensign. Whatever happens, I
know it is from God and I am grateful for the confidence and faith
that I have to know that in the end everything will work out the way
it is supposed to. I enjoy the YSA, they are probably the most funny
age group to teach, and I think I get along with them really well, I
hope I stay. We will find out next week. Sorry this letter wasn't
really spiritual or patriotic. I'd tell you I'm going to a BBQ or
something super American for the fourth but that's a lie, I'm going to
go eat some deep dish pizza with the rest of my zone before we head
back to our apartments. Some of you may think pizza is pretty
American, which might be true, but our Italian zone leader is making
it so I'm not sure if that counts. But I love America, and I love
driving on the right side of the street, and I love that we all have
the choice to do whatever we want to do here, the way that God
intended it to be. And I love you all and I hope you roast some
weenies and watch fireworks and sing that one song where the guy says
"and I'm proud to be an American...." And light some sparklers for me
because I'm not allowed to.
Yesterday at sacrament we sang the star spangled banner and afterwards
someone whisper-shouted "PLAY BALL"
it was great
🇺🇸Sister Madsen🇺🇸
SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED THIS WEEK. MUCHO. as it always does as we get
close to the end of transfers.. So I'll just list them out
I haven't run into any Jehovahs Witnesses my whole mission UNTIL NOW.
And we ran into two different sets in one week. It was crazy. The
first set were Spanish and we ran into them as we were stopping by a
potential investigator. They no doubt saw our name tags and made a bee
line towards us. At first I thought they were Elders until I saw this
little mini 8 year old JW walking with them and I knew it couldn't be
the Elders. His name was Kevin and I am forever grateful that he was
there. Otherwise I'm sure that the two older JWs would have thrown
down on us, and really it was too hot and we did not have the time for
that.. They still told us as much as humanly possible and tried to
give us their own pass along cards and invite us to go check out their
website..it was a very strange and almost out of body experience to be
on the other side of missionary work, but kudos to them, and to little
Kevin in his tan tuxedo for serving the Lord the best he knows how.
The other set of JWs were "off duty" or whatever they do when they
aren't walking around knockin on doors, but one of the two was just
giggling like crazy the whole time we were talking to them and I
couldn't figure out what his deal was and then he finally told us they
were JW and didn't really want to talk to us so we left. I've heard
horror stories about running into JWs though so I feel blessed.
The next thing I want to talk about is the miraculous event that
happened in the Starbucks of a hospital wing where we got three new
investigators in one lesson. We were trying to clear out our area book
which has information on pretty much anyone that has ever talked to
the missionaries and given them their phone number. We texted a ton of
people asking if they would be interested in learning more and got a
couple responses. Some were negative but it doesn't even matter
because we got a golden one from a former investigator named Jason. He
said he would love to learn more and asked if we could meet him the
next day at Starbucks haha what. We told him we could and that we were
excited to meet him and THEN he texted us asking if he could bring a
friend too HA we played it cool and said sure but inside we were
dying. Now, I would be lying if I said I wasn't at all suspicious that
we were going to this thing just to get bible bashed or ambushed in
the middle of Starbucks. I think it might have been just because of my
first area where that's all anyone seemed to want to do who met with
us or sought us out. Anyways I was not as excited as I should have
been, because ONE- that didn't happen. And TWO- he brought three
friends instead of one. It was amazing. They were all into it and
asking really good questions. Teaching groups can be kind of hard
sometimes, but teaching a group of YSAs is a completely different
story because as I have already established, they are all crazy. And
have a million different stories that seem to have to do with what you
are talking about but don't really. (For example ) needless to say our
chaos five person lesson full of questions and relatable tweets and
the occasional attempt at a coffee cup Instagram pic in the middle of
Starbucks in the middle of a hospital in the middle of Chicago was not
the most spiritual lesson I have ever taught. But we got them all to
LITERALLY follow the Prophet on Twitter. and while setting up our next
appointment we made Jason the designated person we would coordinate
with who would then text the rest of the group to invite them and
things like that. To which he exclaimed "I have been called prophet of
this group!! Everyone has to listen to me" so they actually did
understand what we taught them. Kind of..
Finally, Our long lost investigator Adolpho (the one we found simply
by waving at him) from the beginning of the transfer called us and
told us he was coming to church. He does this every Sunday so we
(mostly me) was a little skeptical about the whole thing. BUT he came.
He came an hour late but he came all the same. And it was good. For
the most part. Until the middle of Sunday school when he asked if
missionaries were allowed to have boyfriends, and it all went downhill
from there honestly. From compliments about our eyes, hair, clothes,
personality, literally anything as he tried to take pictures of us, to
attempts to get our first names and addresses, which escalated to him
LITERALLY telling both of us that he would love to marry either of us.
As we walked him back to his car he asked if we wanted to ditch this
place and he'd take us out for drinks. We politely declined.
We have made the decision to pass him off to the Elders
If you had asked me a couple weeks ago I would have guessed that
Sister Ensign and I would have stayed companions for another transfer
and she would have finished off her mission in the YSA but now I'm not
so sure. considering that on top of everything else, this week alone
Sister Ensign has received two date offers for when she goes home in a
month, and my face has been compared to that of Natalie Portman's.
It just seems that the YSA can't handle having sisters at this time,
maybe we should stop showering or something, I don't know.. IM JUST A
GIRL WANTING TO BE A MISSIONARY. WHY IS IT SO HARD. But who knows,
maybe we will both be transferred and they will bring some Elders in,
or maybe we will both stay and it will be a learning experience for
the both of us, or maybe I will leave and Sister Ensign will be left
to dodge her suitors on her own. Or maybe I'll stay and have to
comfort those mourning the loss of Sister Ensign. Whatever happens, I
know it is from God and I am grateful for the confidence and faith
that I have to know that in the end everything will work out the way
it is supposed to. I enjoy the YSA, they are probably the most funny
age group to teach, and I think I get along with them really well, I
hope I stay. We will find out next week. Sorry this letter wasn't
really spiritual or patriotic. I'd tell you I'm going to a BBQ or
something super American for the fourth but that's a lie, I'm going to
go eat some deep dish pizza with the rest of my zone before we head
back to our apartments. Some of you may think pizza is pretty
American, which might be true, but our Italian zone leader is making
it so I'm not sure if that counts. But I love America, and I love
driving on the right side of the street, and I love that we all have
the choice to do whatever we want to do here, the way that God
intended it to be. And I love you all and I hope you roast some
weenies and watch fireworks and sing that one song where the guy says
"and I'm proud to be an American...." And light some sparklers for me
because I'm not allowed to.
Yesterday at sacrament we sang the star spangled banner and afterwards
someone whisper-shouted "PLAY BALL"
it was great
🇺🇸Sister Madsen🇺🇸
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