Christmas Is Coming! December 21, 2015

hey fam! 

wow your week looked awesome. i miss the family christmas party! im glad it went so well though. haha i loved the pics. so i got the package this week! i got the video and was able to convert it to a size that works on these dvd players we have. so ill watch the video tonight. as for skyping, we were thinking about 3 our time. not sure exactly what time that will be there. is it 8? not sure. i am so excited to skype! i cant believe christmas is here again.

so zone conference was good. i didnt give a talk though. this week i actually had a really cool experience. i want to tell you about it when we skype. just remind me. its about jennifer, our investigator. its experiences like these that make me love my mission so much.

im trying to attach pics now. one is of a huge croc. and the other is of us with some snapbacks we bought. this week was awesome though. the weeks are flying by. almost too fast. i still have so much to learn. so the pics arent working :(  sorry. maybe next week. i am so excited to talk to you this week!  

Jennifer's girls

*Mom's note: Four days later we were able to Skype with Elder Madsen! He looked fantastic and sounded amazing and made us laugh as usual! He was at an Internet Cafe, and had to stop midway through to go outside and purchase a card for more internet time. He shared the story he mentioned above about their investigator, Jennifer, & her two daughters. This is the story:

Jennifer is a single mom trying to support herself & her two girls, age 5 & 3. Jennifer wakes up at 2 am and starts making porridge to sell for the morning. With the money she earns each morning she is able to send the girls to school. If she doesn't earn enough, they don't go that day. One day when the Elders went to visit, Jennifer was holding her youngest who was very sick. She was limp & pale, & Jennifer didn't have enough money for a taxi to take her to the hospital. The Elders asked if she would like for them to give her daughter a blessing, and she said yes. They took that opportunity to bless her, then stayed with Jennifer a while longer. Before the Elders left, the sick daughter was up, talking, looking and feeling better, and even gave them a high five as they were leaving. Needless to say, Jennifer wants to continue taking lessons and learn more about the Gospel.

Our family was so touched listening to this experience. As a mom who has had children in need of blessings, I know of the power of the priesthood that can help to heal, whether immediate or not. After listening to this story, I felt so grateful that our son is experiencing these glimpses of our Savior's love for his children. We had a very Merry Christmas.