Freeport, the land that I love Sept 19, 2016

There have been many moments this week where Sister Peterson and I have found ourselves in the car half-shouting half-crying at each other about how great God is and how much we love him, and about how many wonderful things and people there are in Freeport and that by the grace of God we have been put here in this area with these great people together. It's been fun.

There have been a lot of moments where I look around and ask myself is this real life?? It feels very similar to how I imagine Jim from the Office feels whenever he looks at the camera. It's the greatest

God is SO GOOD people. SO GOOD. There are many lessons to learn in life and many of them can be painful and not the most fun. But learning to have gratitude is not one of them. I KNOW with all my heart that grateful people are happy people, and the more you try to look for God's hand in your life the more you will see it. Transfers are coming up soon and we are both nervous for what may come so we are trying to live it and love it and appreciate it here in Freeport as much as we can while we still can. I am sorry this letter isn't long and it doesn't really tell you anything about what happened this week. But be grateful ;) that I wrote one. 

Just kidding that was rude. I know this was bad but I'm just grateful to be here and to be a missionary and to be where I am at right now and I just want you all to know that God is good. 

I hope you all have a great week

Psalms 100:3-5 

🌽Sister Madsen🌽

We carpooled with the Byron Sisters to district meeting and had a pit stop at jimmy johns and there was this man we ran into who was all about self reliance and sustainability and he raised fish in his basement and grew peaches and grapes all around his house. 

And Illinois skies are still 10/10 and the camera never ever does them justice 

Forever young Sept 12 2016

In honor of my two decade birthday here is a list of 20 things that happened this week. Thank you for the birthday wishes and I love you all!!

1. A dog fell asleep on me

2. we asked our investigator to be baptized once and she said no 8 times

3. one day it was really rainy and cloudy outside but when we went outside it was actually 100 degrees

4. ZONE TRAINING

5. I ate fried cheese curds

6. we saw three different Masonic temples 

7. we had dinner with a member who coincidentally was a Mason and he spilled the beans and told us what goes on inside

8. we were on time to bed, EVERY NIGHT

10. we got to go to another parade and fair

11. we met a lady who went all the way to Salt Lake city to go to the family history center there

12. we tried to go get ice cream for my birthday but Union Dairy is closed on mondays..

13. there is a girl who requested a book of mormon and missionary discussions on mormon.org and the address she gave us
 is not real and we are in crisis

14. we taught the kids today and they had some friends over who have had pretty rough lives and we got to teach them 
about the plan of salvation and then they both wanted to pray after the lesson

15. a lady screamed at me for the first time since I have been here

16. there is a guy who keeps coming to church because he is friends with one of the members and his name is Austin
 and he's is really tall and plays football and we told him that he is like the guy from Blind Side and he said I know,
 and then he invited us to come to his game which is a pretty big deal because he used to not talk to us. We will be his Sandra

17. i read this scripture: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

18. at the fair we handed out a bunch of cards with an 8 year old member named Darien and he killed it and everyone wanted to talk to him

19. EVERY TIME we went tracting someone warned us to be safe because everyone in their neighborhood is crazy

20. we found a long lost investigator who had been praying for the missionaries to show up again

Zone conference!

The kids friends that we got to teach!! 

And they had been asking for bibles to go with their book of Mormons and we finally got them some and La'Shay wanted it documented

Those free masons....

Ice Cream!

have a blessed day Sept. 5 2016

Sister Peterson and I have had such a blessed week to be quite honest. Since the baptism we have been continuing to teach a lot of the less active members of the Freeport ward but were struggling to find new investigators. There is a quote in preach my gospel about missionaries doing something and then for whatever reason people to teach just start falling from the sky, and when I read that at the first of my mission I will be honest I thought it was a LIE. because Sister Smith and I were working so hard and being so diligent and still nothing was happening. Looking back now I know that there were things that Heavenly Father was teaching us during that time, but I am here to tell you right now that the whole thing about having people fall from the sky is REAL.
 We were able to find three new investigators this week, and what is crazy is that they were all through our own efforts. We have a list of potentials that will possibly become new investigators but all of the people that we are teaching now are people that we met this very week! its killer. The list of reasons that I love Freeport just keeps growing honestly.
Last Sunday a member of the congregation gave a talk about Love and how it is such a beautiful and viscous cycle and it is so true. She was talking about a missionary that she had met that taught her and helped her become converted to the church. She was talking about how much she loved her and how much she owed her for everything. Later in life she had the opportunity to help out this Sister Missionary who by then had gone home and married and had a family of her own. Well her husband had died and the wife was really sick and she had these 3 kids to take care of. Well this member sold EVERYTHING she had and moved from Illinois to California to move in and help out this missionary who had changed her life. She was really excited to be able to serve her and looked forward to being able to serve and somehow help her friend. Even if it was only a fraction of what that sister missionary had done for this members life, she was happy to be able to repay her and help. WELL. She gained so many lessons and experiences that have helped her when she was caring for the missionary that she AGAIN felt indebted to her, even while she was in the process of serving her. She went on to talk about the cycle of love and how you just can't ever seem to repay or help those that you love more than they help you. And I think it is the same with God. In efforts to be more obedient Sister Peterson and I have made a companionship goal to be to bed on time, bc for real there is just SO MUCH TO DO and we never seem to find the time to do it all. But we know that it is a rule and have been putting forth more of an effort to follow the rules that Heavenly Father has set up for us and in turn, he blesses us. NOT ONLY are we getting more (and better) sleep, for keeping this rule, but because of our tiny smidge of an effort to be more obedient God is like here, have three new investigators, and this cute old man is going to let you into his house right as it starts raining and give you popcorn, and that guy sitting on his porch is going to ask you to have a seat and ask you to teach him, and a grandson's friend of the lady you are teaching is going to start asking you questions about the church, and these members you have dinner with? they are going to invite their family members over to eat with you. Oh, here is good weather too. that wayward young woman that you have been concerned about? you are going to run into her as she is telling someone about God and temples And another thing, while you are walking around you are going to run into some former investigators that you haven't been able to get a hold of because their phone has been turned off. and fast Sunday? FORGET ABOUT IT. Heavenly Father answered  my fast during the prayer I said to START OFF the fast. and there were more kids that bore their testimony this fast Sunday than there were adults. which is insane because there are only 3 families in the ward. AND everyone that bore there testimony was someone that we had taught in that week. God is real. and like it says in Mosiah 2 we will ALWAYS BE UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS. I love Him. I love Freeport. when we go tracting people sitting on their porches yell at us to let us know if the person who's house we are knocking is home or not. and everyone tells us to have a blessed day. and we do.

> sister madsen

We went to a fair this morning and I got an elephant ear and it was
huge and delicious

Don't worry I am confused too. Aug 29, 2016

I need to write in my journal more because so much happens every week and my weekly emails never do it justice. 

On Tuesday we got up bright and early (it was at 4 am.. so it was actually really dark..) to see Sister Turner off. And then Sister Peterson and I HIT THA PAVEMENT. It was weird for a little bit not having three of us because lets be real being in a trio is always a party. But I think that we have gotten into more of a flow now that we have had a couple of days. we still get lost all the time because of a dinky but FREE gps that one of the members gave us that we haven't really figured out how it works yet. We had a dinner with one of our senior members at Applebees and we had to call her and ask for directions. Which is sad because Freeport only has like.. 3 big roads and we still couldn't find it. 

Anyways we got there and had our Dinner with the member. Her name is Mary Lou and she is really cute and really old and always wears green "because its God's favorite color" and I LOVE HER. She is probably the sassiest lady I have ever met. And she is a total pioneer. she is one of the original members of the Freeport ward. In fact she was a member here before it was even a ward. or a branch honestly. And she helped build and raise money via baked goods for the church building that we have today. INCREDIBLE. 

--Ok I could go on about other things that happened this week but as I was typing about Mary Lou I just felt so happy and so much love and I think that is what I want to talk about right now. Sister Peterson has been able to teach me a lot about how to serve with my heart. I have been out on my mission for 6 months and I feel like I have been serving with all my mind might and strength but not so much my heart. Even before my mission I think I was pretty wishy washy with people and a lot of my relationships and for a really long time I have felt like for whatever reason I wasn't being ~real~ with people if that makes sense.. And I am starting to realize with the help of sister Peterson that I hold most people back a little bit. And it is for no reason other than the fact that I know I am this gross mushy person who cries like ALL the time. And I really honestly don't feel like doing that. BUT now I am at a point in my mission where I see the difference between teaching an investigator and teaching a person. Like, these are PEOPLE. these are our BROTHERS AND SISTERS. I dunno. what I am trying to say is that I am trying to love people more because it is better. It is easier not to. Its easier to not open up, and to kind of breeze through life feeling luke warm all the time and pretty indifferent about everything. but then you are going to go through your whole life and die alone. ALONE. OK wow sorry. I have been studying the plan of salvation a lot and relating it to the mission. and how my life before the mission is like the pre existence. and my mission is the earth life and when you get here you are "born" aka I was born in Wheaton and all that crazy stuff that missionaries say that no one else knows what they are talking about. And I will have my own personal Gethsemane and Refiners Fire and Sermon on the Mount and things like that. I was reading this talk titled To Die Well https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1976/10/to-die-well?lang=eng&cid=email-shared and it talks about what kind of person do you want to be when the last hour of your life arrives and I've been thinking a lot about the kind of missionary I want to be when the last hour of my mission arrives and what that will look like and what I need to do to get there. and I don't want to leave my mission  having only formed like 300 acquaintances because I kept everything surface level. I WANT FRIENDS. I WANT TO LOVE THE PEOPLE. and I don't know how. and sister Peterson is so Christlike and so wise and is like here I will help you and I am like what no don't touch me you are like 3 months old I am supposed to be helping you and then I humble myself and say ok. It has been weird but Sister Peterson and I balance each other out really well. She gets pretty stressed out and OCD and I don't get that stressed. And she is this spiritual loving giant and I am just here trying to figure out how to even teach people (ok side note for real I have taught SO MANY PEOPLE since I have been in freeport it is insane. I think I have again doubled the amount of lessons I have taught in these past four transfers  with just the lessons I have taught since being here in freeport.) Anyways it is obvious that this companionship is Divine. and that God knows what our goals are and helps us accomplish them. There are things I am supposed to teach sister Peterson and there are things she is supposed to teach me. and there are things we are supposed to teach the people of freeport together. 

I think we can all agree that this email got weird. but it is the one I felt like writing today. I hope some fragment of it made sense to some one and that it didn't make me sound like a heartless monster.

have a good week and open your heart and it shall be filled

BYE

😎sister Madsen 

We had a lesson out in Pearl City aka the place where paved roads don't exist,

And we had an appointment at this sandwich place.. That was also an antique store??

Everything in Freeport is a weird combination of something (ex: cornfields and gangs)and I love all of it

Glad tidings of great joy Aug 22,2016

This is so long and I don't care 

I already know that the words that I am about to type will in no way do justice to the fantastic week that I have had. But I will tell you about it anyways, as adequately as I am able. Also buckle down and get ready for some pictures because a LOT has happened this week. Because #1 we are in a trio, so let's be real something cool is always happening. And another thing is because the kids got baptized this week and really what is better than that. NOTHING

The entire week has been a party and a half but I just want to skip forward to these last couple of days because they have been particularly A+ 

On Friday we had dinner with Judy and the kids, where I ate probably the best meatloaf I have ever had in my entire life. we had already been over at their house every day this past week bc it is basically missionary LAW that you have contact with the person everyday the week before their baptism. So we got to see them everyday which was great because I am in love with all of them. They all have my heart. The kids were crazy but we sort of managed to have a little testimony meeting together and they talked about why they wanted to be baptized and how they know that God loves them. Roschea wrote hers down and said she wanted to share it tomorrow after they all got baptized. 

The next day was Saturday. 🌊Baptism day🌊 but first we were able to go that morning to the Freeport bowling alley and volunteer for the special olympics which was crazy and awesome and I had so much fun, and then we went to prep for the baptism. It was at 3 but we went an hour early to get everything ready and all that jazz. We were supposed to meet our district leaders there. They were the ones who interviewed the kids and the ones that the kids asked to baptize them. And then Judy and the kids were to come at 2:30 so that we could get them all ready and dressed and take some pictures and yadda yadda. 

Well

Remember last week how I said that no one here has any concept of time

2:50 rolls around and the elders and the kids show up at the same time and it is madness and everyone is running around trying to get dressed and everything while the Ward members are waiting for things to get started. But I guess you can't be late to your own baptism so it's fine. 

The service was great. I cried. Hard core. When they were getting baptized. When Roschea bore her testimony and started crying. When I got up and taught them about the Holy Ghost. When Malachi received the Holy Ghost. When La'shay gave all of us thank you cards and stickers that she had made for us from thank you cards and stickers she stole out of my purse. It was a good day. 

Afterward the Elders were talking to the kids and Malachi was talking about how confused he was about why everyone wasn't baptized and at church. He asked the Elders "how come the people don't believe in God when God is the one who made them. Why don't they believe in God when they know? How else did they get here??" He asks us this every time we see him and we honestly can't give him a good answer. Because we don't know either haha. It's like WHY. WHY DON'T YOU BELIEVE. And we don't know. And the Elders didn't know, we are all baffled. And it has been so funny to teach all of them because Malachi is like the biggest punk but he is also the nicest. And he is really smart. He was talking about how now he has the Holy Ghost. And it keeps him on track. And back to God. And we all have the Holy Ghost. But there are people who aren't on the right track. But we have the Holy Ghost so now we need to go get the people who aren't on track and bring them on track. And we were all like WHAT. Don't get me wrong, teaching them has been great, but sometimes you wonder if anything even sticks and if the kids even know or understand what is going on. But then things like that happen and you know it is going to be all good. AND Malachi is going to be a bomb missionary someday. He invited everyone on his street to the baptism. I love that kid.

Anyways, this week is transfer week, and everything seems to always happen on transfer week. We went to the baptism, and then we went to a birthday party for a 7 year old in our Ward because he invited us. Then we went to dinner at Ambers home (I know I haven't talked about her yet but I will later this email is too long) and we got permission for her to teach us self defense. AND THEN TRANSFER CALLS

I am staying, hallelujah. And so is sister Peterson, and I will be her greenie breaker. What Heavenly Father was thinking when I got put as senior companion I have no idea.. But this transfer is going to be an eventful one I can already tell. And sister Turner is getting transferred to Elgin to be a sister training leader. And she will do great. And I love her and she has changed my mission. And Freeport. She gave a farewell testimony during sacrament. And she hadn't been able to tell the kids yet because we found out at like 10:30 the night before and the kids also showed up LATE to sacrament. So they got confirmed after we had already passed the sacrament. Which was tender and we were crying. And then immediately afterward Sister Turner had to go up and give her testimony. Rude. Anyways so many Ward members were crying. And the kids came up to us afterward and were bawling. Even Malachi. Sacrament was special that day. And the spirit was different. Sister Turner has been such a great example to me of the kind of missionary that I want to be in so many ways. Her testimony has power and she is an influence to all that she meets. Gahhhh I love her. I can't talk more about it or I'll cry.

Before I go I want to let you know something I learned this week. Love doesn't have to come over time. It can be as instantaneous as Sister Peterson hugging me and telling me she is so excited and has been praying about me the very first time I met her. I thought for a second that I might be getting transferred on Saturday and I almost started crying. I have only been here about two weeks and I already love everyone here so much and I didn't want to leave them. I am excited for what this next transfer brings. 

I love you all 

We went to this place called Union Dairy. Where they have over 51 flavors of ice cream and free Gideon bibles. 

I got apple Pie flavor and a free bible 

I can't believe Freeport is real.

This is a place called debate square. Where one of the actual Lincoln Douglas debates was. No big deal

 

Awkward picture of us after volunteering at the special Olympics 

We tried taking some corn pictures BC ILLINOIS 🌽🌽🌽🌽

🌊BAPTISM🌊

Here is a picture of my pride and joy:
We have Keynora, Malachi, La'Shay, and Roschea

This is what dreams are made of Aug 15, 2016

Hey now

how is everyone??? I AM DOING GREAT. No joke. I am so happy. this last
week has been so fun! My new companions are the greatest and Freeport
itself is just amazing and I am in love. There used to be a big
pretzel factory here so the high school and news papers and everything
have some sort of pretzel mascot or theme even though the factory got
shut down years ago. its the greatest. And everyone here is so nice!
and just always sitting outside on their porch so we talk to soooo
many people whenever we go out tracting. I love it
My companions!!!!! So now I am in a trio which has been a dream since
the beginning of the mission because trios are just cool. and I am
serving with Sister Turner who is from Ogden and is probably the most
missionary missionary there ever was. In a good way. You know how some
people are just born natural athletes? I think this sista was born a
natural missionary. its been so nice to be able to serve with her and
learn from her. And she is so normal. this might not make sense but it
just calms me down because there are some really great missionaries
that I've been able to serve around but a lot of them have been really
intense and it just stresses me out and makes me feel like the only
way I can be a good missionary is if I am crazy but Sister Turner is
chill and she is an awesome missionary. I love her. My other new
companion is Sister Peterson who is from -get this- Alpine. and get
this, she went to Lone Peak. and get this, she went to Utah state. and
get this, we have never met before. This makes a total of 4 people who
I went to school with before the mission. Weird. granted she graduated
a year after than me but its still crazy that we have never talked to
each other or anything because we knew a lot of the same people. which
is a real shame because I LOVE HER. As a trio we are all really
similar and get a long really well. we were definitely friends in the
preexistence. and we will definitely be friends after the mission. I
really hope none of us get transferred but the likelihood of that is
slim. Sister Turner has been here in Freeport for three transfers
already and she has been training Sister Peterson for two of them. so
they will probably get separated so that Sister Peterson can try out
missionary life without her trainer. So I might be the one who greenie
breaks her. who knows.. Heavenly Father probably.... but not me.
anyways if I hadn't been told that Sister Peterson was in training I
wouldn't have known it because she is already a A+ missionary and
knows everything. She is great. We are all guessing that Sister Turner
leaves since she has been here the longest and then Sister Peterson
and I stay. We find out on Saturday so we will see. I really hope I
stay though, because #1 Freeport has become my missionary heaven and I
love it here and #2 I really do not want to to pack everything up
again.
I'll pray!

anyways a little bit more about the area, Freeport is out in the
boonies and our stake is right next to the Davenport stake (hello
Cheryl). the Freeport ward itself is about three times as big as the
stake that I was just over in Schaumburg. It is a lot of cornfields,
soy beans, and farm land. as well as a down town area in the middle
which is kind of projects-y. its an interesting combination of people
at church but I love it! AND amazing news, I am poaching on these
Sisters Baptism that they are having this Saturday. a recent covert
named Judy moved here in July sometime and wants FOUR of her kids are
getting baptized. and THEY ARE THE CUTEST. I will send a picture.
Their names are Roschea, Keynora, LaShay, and Malichi. they are the
light of my world. I've already taught them 3 times in this past week
and they are just so fun. I definitely missed seeing kids running
around while I was in the YSA. but anyways yeah I am excited for these
kids, they are so awesome and all of them were yelling and some were
crying when they all passed their baptism interviews. so tender. This
area is really good and these sisters have been doing a great job
taking care of it and working with the ward and reactivating people as
well. we have a couple teaching appointments everyday so we are really
busy! but its still pretty easy to find people to talk to in our
downtime.

this update is really long so I'll end it soon, but I just wanted to
leave you with a lil testimony that God answers prayers. I have
learned this time and time again. BUT ITS TRUE. and it is almost
always in a way and a time that you don't see coming. I never expected
a prayer that I said at the beginning of my mission to be answered 6
months later in the middle of nowhere in Freeport, or that some of the
more difficult things that have happened on my mission were weirdly
answers to my prayers as well (be careful what you pray for am I
right). Anyways God is good, the church is true, you can become who
you want to become if you will let God refine you, pray always
Amen!


🌽Sister Madsen🌽

Us and the kids!
And our district leaders who interviewed them on the back porch
We are so white

We had an appointment with our investigator Tarrone who ended up being
way late because he forgot about the lesson and was on a walk when we
called him which is normal because no one here has any concept of
time. So we just waited around on his front porch that had weird
amount of chairs and books and other nonsense  that nobody seems to
steal. And then He came .and the lesson was good and he said he would
be baptized so it all works out

Illinois has the best clouds and the best sunsets for real.
Also some things I forgot:
I don't think I mentioned it but I have literally wanted to go to
Freeport since I heard about it my first transfer because it is just
so cool and crazy and now I'm here and I'm so happy and I JUST BELONG
HERE OK
Our apartment is a three story townhouse castle,
Kay, the investigator from my last area is still doing good, other
missionaries are teaching him now and he really wants to find the
truth! Gahhhh he's great I'm so jealous that other people get to teach
him because he is GOLDEN
There is a couple streets that we "aren't allowed" to go on bc GANGS

Because of emergency transfers I got to crash on sister turners
exchange and got to go on exchanges with sister Davis AGAIN. It was
great, she is awesome, I'm glad I got to see her again before she goes
home.
And everyone at the food pantry we went to was giving us all sorts of
nonsense because "oh there's three of you now!" And they nicknamed us
hear no evil speak no evil see no evil so it had to be documented. And
we all just decided to wear buns bc sister missionary. And I look like
an idiot in every picture but I've accepted it and embrace it

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