gimme a hand, July 25, 2016

There are no words to describe the insanity of this week. or the miracles. or the heat. actually there are..and I will use them right now.

To start off this week Steve relapsed after 70 days of sobriety which was very sad and a roller coaster in itself.. Satan is working real hard on him and it sucks. he told us about his relapse and that he didn't want to talk to us anymore or come to church and he basically just gave up. and then he texted us later that day and asked if we could have a lesson the next day. we had NO idea what to expect in that lesson and that morning was probably the most stressful hour of personal study I have ever had. Then at the lesson he was a completely different person. he told us that he knew that he couldn't over come his addictions without God's help and that he realized it now that he had relapsed. And he was going to start going to addiction recovery again even though he hates it. SUCH A MIRACLE. even though it was not good that he relapsed this is probably the best outcome that could have come from it. sometimes people need to hit a rock bottom to realize that they can't do everything on their own and NEED Heavenly Father. I was reading in Hebrews 12 about trials and whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and its so true. he gives us trials to help us learn and to rely on him more. I love in Hebrews 12:11 when it talks about how obviously no chastening/trials are joyous while we are presently in them. but afterwards it brings forth peace and righteousness. I have witnessed God's hand in life so many times this week and seem so many little miracles. but something that I have come to learn this week is that lack of His divine intervention brings for miracles as well. Steve was on this path where he felt like he needed to "man up" and just stop smoking. But he didn't think He needed God's help or support. and maybe he could have stopped his word of wisdom issues on his own. but it wouldn't have been on that sure rock foundation of Christ. and when times and temptations got hard. and he would have relapsed in the future and it may have been in during worse circumstances that it is right now. But it happened now, and Heavenly Father allowed him to feel that terrible Godly sorrow in order for him to be able to humble himself and turn his problems over to God. what I am trying to say is that sometimes God helps us by not helping us.

BUT other times He helps us by getting involved and gives us wonderful and undeserving miracles haha. which happened a lot this week.

while we were teaching Steve at the library there was this man who walked passed us and did a double take, and then was circling us and eavesdropping on us during the remainder of the lesson. then after the lesson was over he came up to us and asked if we were Mormons. and we said yes and he told us that he had always wanted to learn more about our church and he would love to take lessons from us if we ever had time. He was originally interested in the church because of our "health code" aka the word of wisdom. and that he felt like society needs more rules and structure. so we are PUMPED to teach him about the commandments. it was a MIRACLE that sister ensign and I kept our cool haha so we got his information and we had a lesson with him over the phone on Sunday. He doesn't have much of a religious background but says that he has always wanted a relationship with God. So we have been teaching him really simply and only got through the first half of the lesson because he has AMAZING questions. he is SO prepared. he told us that he has always wanted to be baptized. he is awesome.

another thing that happened was exchanges and I went with the lovely Sister Davis again and it was awesome and I learned a lot, as always. we went to one of the college campuses which I've always wanted to do and we just talked to everyone we had to sneak around though because we weren't sure if we were allowed to be there or not and we didn't want to ask in case they told us no. it ended up being really successful and we got some people's contact information so that is exciting. I don't know anyone remembers but two exchanges ago but when I brought Sister Halliday into the area our heater had broken and we kind of froze at night. WELL GUESS WHAT HAPPENED. I brought Sister Davis into our area in the middle of a stinkin heat wave (95 degrees + 90% humidity is a no go.) and our entire building's AC had broke down. there was no relief from the heat besides our car. it was crazy and sweaty and hilarious. AND because of that and because our apartment was 102 degrees during the night we got permission to sleep over at the Sister Training Leaders house as well as the Schaumburg 2nd sister's apartment. so we have been having some parties this week with our fellow sister missionaries.

well this email is already too long so I apologize. I will leave you all now, I hope you have a good one and stay cool! and PLEASE look for God's hand in your life, there may be miracles happening that you have been missing 

Sister Madsen

We put our engineering minds to work and assembled this to try and get what little cool air we could from the AC that was on top of the wall to be magnified by the fan.

It didn't work but we felt accomplished 

We slept at the Sister Training Leaders house for one of the days that we were exiled from our sweaty apartment and things happened and faces were turned green. 

And the Schaumburg Second sisters!! Whom I love. Sister Nogueria (the one taking the picture) and I have wanted to be companions since we met and have been in the same district but not companions.. YET. but we got to have a lil tester this week when we stayed with them for a couple days and honestly WE HAVE TO BECOME COMPANIONS. We are the same person. I love her. I love all my sisters, but Sister Nogueria has become my "companion crush" haha 

Heat exhaustion July 18, 2016

Don't worry mom the only reason I put this as the title is because it
is hot and I am exhausted.
WHAT ELSE IS NEW.
Actually not a lot to be honest, just walking around talking to people
who are playing Pokemon.
But it's exciting, I feel like things are starting to pick up in this
area. It's annoying that it takes me a whole transfer to get the ball
rolling, but at least it's rolling now so who cares. We had three
dinner appointments last week which was a miracle and it was awesome
and we were able to eat and talk with them and they told us about some
of their friends who weren't members that they want us to start
teaching so that's really exciting!! The only problem is that they are
out of not only our area, but our MISSION. We are serving right now in
the very corner of our entire mission, and since we are YSA
missionaries we don't just cover one Ward, we cover two stakes. Which
is huge. But one of the stakes isn't even in our mission! So we
haven't been able to get up there to talk to anyone, including some
people who have presidency callings who have been MIA the entire
summer. We have been trying to get approval from an area 70 since way
before I've been here but nothing has really happened yet. BUT MAYBE
SOON. We never know. Just pray.
Anyways I'm sorry this letter is pretty short. Honestly not a lot has
happened this week. But I am grateful to be able to be a missionary
and I'll give a lil s/o to my brother TREVOR who leaves on his mission
this week! Have fun in Cali bruh. Crazy times, I'll see you in like..2
1/2 years? Ok wow weird lets not think about it 😬 you'll be great bro
haha just don't fall asleep during class at the mtc and you will be
fine. Probably. Alright what else has happened.. Sister Ensign and I
have been searching everywhere for cheap roller skates for when we
work out in the morning but we can't find any. We went to like three
Goodwill's today and no success. The search continues. Also I love
Goodwill. Uhh Adolfo called us this week and asked us for advice with
his girlfriend so we started teaching him about prayer lol then he
asked if he could come visit us after our missions and take us and we
said no. So he persisted. And so we asked him which one of us he was
talking about AND HE CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER OUR NAMES. Oh well.
Alright I am sorry, my brain is fried I can't type anymore. Maybe I do
have heat exhaustion.. Next week will be a better email I promise.

Sister Madsen

Cicadaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh July11, 2016

Welp transfer calls have come and gone and Sister Ensign and I are staying single!! Haha. Actually this is sister ensigns last transfer so technically she is DYING single so that's hilarious. Also the cicadas have arrived. They have been here for awhile but this week has been the most prominent, nothing like screaming bugs to tell you it's summer haha. Work wise not a lot has happened this week unfortunately. Steve did call us after he missed church on Sunday and he told us he was going to take a break from the church for a couple months and my heart was like noooooooooooooooo I was so sad. But in the very same phone call. Almost in the very same sentence. he changed his mind and asked when institute was and if we could start teaching him again. Wut. It has all been very confusing but I'm glad that for now he is on an upward track. I'm just worried for when he goes off to college again in August.

Other than that not much has happened. But I do have some pictures to send this week so hurrah. Also on a good note apparently Pokemon has come out with some sort of new game for the phone that everyone in the branch has been losing their minds over. But it has ended up being a good thing because suddenly there are a TON more YSA people walking around outside that would have otherwise normally been inside watching tv or whatever. So we've been able to talk to a lot more people this week which has been great!  

But before I go I wanted to share a quick thought. Yesterday during Sunday school we were teaching about fasting and we got the class into this great discussion about the power that comes from fasting and it was awesome. And someone made a comment about how we go without food for a day but we wouldn't ever go a week without food because that would be insanity and no bueno and it would harm us physically. And he related back to how spiritually we get fed every Sunday. But is that the only time we get fed during the week? Is that the only time we think about church or Jesus or the gospel? We would never physically go without nourishment for a whole week. So why would we spiritually? Ahhhhh it was so good. ARE WE FEASTING ON THE WORDS OF CHRIST DAILY? ARE WE FEEDING OURSELVES SPIRITUALLY EVERY DAY BY READING THE SCRIPTURES? Right now I am because I am a missionary. But what about when I am at home? Lots of reflection has gone on this past week. I love it. I love you all Amen.

Have a good one

Sister Madsen 

Been praying too hard. SIKE this is the result of our super non competitive really relaxed non battle to the death soccer game that we played with all the other missionaries on the Fourth of July

The beautiful outdoors.

Sister ensign and I found a new forest preserve to walk around that has tons of people fishing and kayaking. It's beautiful.

My sunglasses from DI broke and which left me shocked and disappointed,But I got to eat the HOT DOG OF CHAMPIONS so it made up for it

Everything that could happen has happened July 4, 2016

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🇺🇸

YSA YSA June 27, 2016

Well, another week has come and gone and I'm not really sure how else to start this letter. 

My talk on Sunday went great other than I had prepared WAY TO MUCH and only got to give about half of it, which is interesting considering back home the problem with giving talks was usually the opposite. But you live and you learn. 

We had a lesson with Steve this week, I'm not sure how much I've talked about him but he's great. He has been less active in the church for awhile and typically goes through cycles of wanting to change and get his life back together and then out of nowhere he gives up and stops talking to everyone and goes back to how he was living before. When I came into the area it was sort of an iffy time where he had been doing pretty well and was trying to resolve his issues and get back active in the church, but he wasn't really progressing and everyone was kind of bracing themselves for him to leave again, and drop the missionaries and he just hasn't. It's so cool! I didn't really see him at his worst but just to see the change in him since I've been here has been crazy. He shaved off his huge beard, stopped wearing tanks and shorts to church and started wearing white shirts. He comes to fhe and institute, he comes to all hours of the church, he has asked us if there is a calling or something he can do to help the branch. He texts us everyday his favorite scripture he read that day. He invited his dad who is not a member to church. He asked if he could help us with lessons with our investigators, he has a goal to go to the temple now. It's been awesome

And then this week HE DROPPED US.

It was probably the most stressful day of my life. We teach him every week usually and the day after our lesson this week he texted us and said he didn't want to meet with the missionaries anymore and that he felt like he was wasting our time and wasn't progressing. Sister Ensign and I died. DIED. We called him but he didn't answer but he told us he would call later that night. So the whole entire day we were walking around stressed out of our minds. Trying to figure out what we could say to help him. Then finally he calls us and we talk about it, and he said he is moving to Minnesota in a couple months and he is worried that he relies to much on the missionaries for his spiritual progression and so when he leaves he is just going to fall away again. So he wants to kind of practice and grow on his own and see how he does. It was weirdly a very positive drop. I guess not meeting with the missionaries helps some people. Who knew?? Anyways he waited a couple days and then he started texting us again and he signed up to take us out to dinner next week so I'm pretty positive we are all still friends. YSA is weird. 

Wednesday was crazy. We spent most of it in Arlington Heights which is a ways away (is that how you spell that? I have no idea) but we were walking around and it just starts pouring rain out of nowhere. And we didn't bring our coats or anything and we couldn't go back to get them because our apartment was far and we were almost out of miles so we just continued on walking around in the rain. And it kept raining and raining. Really huge and fast rain drops. After walking around for awhile in the town square or whatever it was. And we turn down the corner of the neighborhood we parked at and THE STREET HAS FLOODED.  So we book it to our car to hurry and leave before we get stuck there because it was almost curfew and I'm not really sure what happened.. I don't know if I was just running too fast, or my skirt was too wet and heavy but as we are running to the car my skirt literally falls off my body IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET, right off of downtown Arlington Heights for the whole world to see. I DIED. luckily I'm pretty positive we were the only ones dumb enough to be outdoors at that point so I don't think anyone else saw. Hopefully...

So we return home and start to wonder to ourselves why our zone leaders didn't tell us about any sort of flash flood warning or anything. And then we get a text from Steve WHO JUST DROPPED US. Asking if we are ok and that he saw on the news that two tornadoes had been sighted in our area. Sister Ensign and I were like WHAT IS GOING ON WHY IS NO ONE FROM THE MISSION WARNING US. I'm glad to know Steve has our backs..

Those are the main things that happened. We do have an investigator Tamara who we taught the law of chastity to, who is the cutest, but still a YSA so her life is crazy as well. Texting her is a hoot. She told us the day after our lesson she might break up with her boyfriend and move out of his house because of it. and because they just got into a fight anyway.. So we will see.

YSA... It's madness. We get drunk texts and phone calls from potentials a lot more than I thought we would. And we get to fist bump everyone in the ward. I love it

Have a blessed week

Sister Madsen 

Also we got to go to the temple for a YSA regional conference. We didn't do any work inside but some people brought their friends who weren't members so we got to go on a tourwith them and answer their questions!! It was a very sly move on the members part and a great missionary opportunity haha, some of them might come to church! ALSO my iPhone/iPad photography is still goin strong 

I'm only four months out and I'm sick of coming up with titles June 20,2016

Where to begin.. This week felt pretty standard even though it wasn't. On Monday we drove to one of the downtown areas in the stake and were contacting around a river that was there. We met this guy named Elex who is awesome! He asked us to share a scripture with him and we did and testified of the Book of Mormon and he told us he would love to learn more! It was great, we got his contact info and parted ways. We were a little ways up the street when we hear someone shout "HEY LADIES" and I just ignored it. Our area in general pretty safe but where we happened to be that night was a little more on the sketchy side. To give you a better idea I have been proposed to in that area twice.. So naturally I just assumed the guy yelling at us was one of my future husbands and I figure I'll have plenty of time to talk to him later. But again the voice persisted "LADIES" so we turn around and Elex is running towards us and in my head I'm thinking "noooooo he's one of the crazies". Anyways he caught up to us and it turns out he just wanted to give us two Powerade bottles he had in his gym bag because it was hot outside. I love people. What's better than nice strangers? NOTHING. it was sweet, and we have a lesson set up with him this week and I'm stoked. 

The next day was exchanges and I was with the lovely Sister Davis, who I did not get a picture with. But it turns out we were on the same club soccer team in high school!! So cool. I've talked to her a dozen times but we could never figure out how we knew each other until we were on exchanges. And of course it was soccer, the greatest sport that unites the world. There is actually a girl in our branch who literally became a member because of soccer. And she doesn't even play. IM NOT LYING. that was the first thing she said to me, one of her favorite soccer players is Mormon and it got her interested in learning more and she requested missionaries to come teach her. The world is amazing. Anything can be tied back to the gospel, I LOVE IT. 

The infamous Aldopho who calls us at least every Saturday saying he needs God in his life and is going to come to church has yet to come to church. But he called us at 3 am this morning to mix things up. We called him back WAY later and he said he is ready to change and want to know God and needs help, so we have a lesson with him today. Heavenly Father has literally been dropping tons of little miracles into our laps and making new investigators fall from the sky. We are blessed, and the fireflies are starting to come out!

Have a happy Father's Day and a good week. 

Sister Madsen  
Unfortunately the only picture I have this week is from a dinner we had with a family from the Branch Presidency. Who have been telling me all transfer that they are excited for me to "pick my nose" and now I finally understand what they meant. And this glamour shot is what followed:

Way up I feel blessed June 13, 2016

Hullo everybody

I'm not really sure where to start with this week but it has been
great! I'm sure it has been obvious to all of you but I've been having
a hard time getting humble and finding joy in being obedient and
following all the little rules that come with being a missionary. So
in efforts to have a better attitude as I crawl down this long road of
humility I started marking and underlining and circling and
whatevering all of the blessings that Heavenly Father promises us as
we are obedient. I started out with my patriarchal blessing and then
moved on to the white handbook and then Preach My Gospel and it has
now spun out of control and I mark any time that a blessing is
promised in whatever I am reading, and you know what, WE ARE SO
BLESSED. It probably sounds corny but I can't think of any other way
to put it, everything that Heavenly Father does is to bless us. The
sabbath day? He has set aside one day of the week just for you so that
you can leave your worries and stress of the world and focus on the
things that will truly bring you peace (mark 2:27) every commandment
we are given is to help us, and then on top of that he gives us more
blessings for keeping his commandments!! It's madness. A week or so
ago I was reading in Mosiah 2 and it talks a lot about it how much we
are blessed. There is no way on heaven or earth we could ever pay back
Heavenly Father for everything he has given us. We could dedicate
every day and moment of our entire lives to serving him and it still
wouldn't be enough! Because He has given us life, and strength, and
supports us in all things, He is helping us help Him (Mosiah 2:21)
this is a terrible analogy but I am using it anyways. We have a new
mission wide rule that everyone has to wear bug spray at all times and
last week there was a couple days where it was in the hundreds and the
humidity was kickin in and I felt like I was on the verge of melting.
It was bad news. And then we had to put bug spray on. And I felt so
disgusting and sticky and mad and we were walking around and I was
just in a bad mood. I was really annoyed and thinking about all the
rules and everything that we have to follow and the spirit kind of
knocked me upside the head and I got over myself I put it together
that we weren't given this bug spray rule to make us be annoyed and
gross. It's literal only purpose is to help us and protect us. And
it's the same with the commandments. Heavenly Father doesn't give us
commandments to make us miserable, he gives them us to bless and
protect us. He asks that we pray so that we can let him know what's
going on and ask him for help. And he will help us. AND he will bless
us for keeping his commandment on top of that. It's probably a really
selfish way to look at obedience and the commandments but it is where
I'm at right now. Baby steps.. 😏

In other news I am feeling a lot better. You probably didn't know that
there was anything wrong with me and honestly for a long time neither
did I. But since college I have been feeling sort of off, the things
that used to make me happy and I enjoyed doing weren't anymore, I
didn't have any energy to do anything, and I was generally feeling
bleh. And I couldn't figure out what it was or what had happened that
made me start feeling this way, there was just something missing and I
didn't know where to find it. I still don't know what it is or what
has happened but I am starting to feel more like my old self again in
a good way. Being outside makes me happy, talking to people makes me
happy, dogs have always made me happy, but those little things that
used to put a smile on my face that weren't cutting it for me anymore
are starting to come back. I just feel more in tune with everything. I
dunno what to say!! I'm just happy! And happy to be happy. I don't
know why or what happened that brought this about but I know that it
is all God. I know that what is said in Matthew 10:39 is true.
Heavenly Father can make us into the person we want to be(as well as a
person even better than that) only if we will let him. I have wanted
and tried to get back to feeling this way for so long, and it wasn't
until I came out here and started serving the Lord that it happened.
As we lose our life in serving Christ we will ultimately find it. And
I am grateful. I'm grateful to be a missionary and I'm grateful for
all the blessings that I have been given that I know about and the
blessings that I have been given that I don't know about or even
realize.
Sister Ensign shared this quote that I really liked

I am who I am
I am who I was
I am who I want to be.
This can be taken a lot of different ways but essential this is how I took it-
I am who I am: I accept who I am at this present time
I am who I was: I am still the person that I was in the pre existence,
I am and can be as righteous and good as I was before I came to this
life. Only Heavenly Father knows who that person is though, he knows
us better than we know ourselves because we can't remember. Therefore
he is the only person who can truly know how to make us happy
I am who I want to be: I am in control of my actions and responsible
for who I am. I can be whoever I want to be, but it is up to me.

We can become the people we want to. If we will let Heavenly Father show us how.

Ok that was corny bye I'm sorry I hope you all have a good week I love you

Sister Madsen

It's only JUNE but we were dying of the heat.
A lot of other things happened this week:
1. I have mucho mosquito bites
2. A woman came into the church building very emotionally distraught
during one of our meetings and sister ensign and I took her to one of
the class rooms and had a lesson with her. Very quickly we realized
that she was very intoxicated and very homeless. She was very sweet
though and said it was an honor to be considered one of our sisters.
We invited her to church the following day and she promised she would
come.
She did not come
3 we have been walking around forest preserves everyday and EVERYONE
HERE ROLLER SKATES I LOVE ILLINOIS.
4 we found out we had to teach Sunday school literally seconds before
it started.
5 one of the members we have been working with brought his not member
60 year old dad to our young single adults sacrament meeting.
6. We made enchiladas