Amazing People May 25 2015

hey fam!

so first of all i am super super jealous of quel going to Hawaii for her honeymoon. that looks so fun im glad she had fun and im glad she is safe. here is a pic for you from our mission tour

so for teaching muslims we do have to use a different approach. its hard. and ya mom i am happy and well. i keep getting comps that are kinda hard. my first impression of my comp was kinda wrong. its really cool though because i am learning a ton from it. i honestly think i keep getting comps like this so that i can learn how to work with people. how to be patient. how to not get so upset at things. how to just forgive and forget. me and my comp were really struggling. and honestly the spirit is just gone when you are upset at each other. so we have to make up. otherwise we wouldnt be able to teach by the spirit. and walking with a comp when you are mad at them is no fun. this work is bigger than these little problems we have, so we just have to get through them. but i am still loving it.

my year mark is almost here! this sunday was really cool. we had seven at church. and in the investigators class we had an investigator named seth give an amazing answer to a question. we had given him the book of mormon in our most previous lesson. and during the lesson the teacher asked a question. and he raised his hand and answered it using a scripture from first nephi. he is reading and loving it. we are sure that him and his daughter will be baptized. and then later that day we were visiting an investigator who also came to church. she is fifteen. it was her first time coming. she is struggling with her belief in god. she knows he exists but her testimony is just a little weak. when we first met her she said that she felt like we were angels that god sent so that she could know the truth. when we met with her we were going to teach the restoration. and we had given her the pamphlet a couple days prior. as we started the lesson, she basically told us the whole restoration and understood the apostasy and priesthood. everything. she was so happy that there was a prophet called after the death of the apostles and the savior. she is so smart. she doesnt stay with her real parents. we didnt know this either, but the lady she stays with, is the mother in law to our recent convert Mohammed. it was crazy how we met her. we also taught her how to pray. and she said ever since she started praying she feels so happy. anyway. these people are amazing. this is definitely my favorite part of missionary work, hearing them say things like that. and seth is just awesome.

the other day i was just thinking, and i compare myself to other people a lot. and on missions its mainly spiritually. but i hate it. i realized that i just need to compare myself to myself and that i need to focus on building myself. it reminded me of a scripture in abraham 3;19. there will always be someone above you. so just work on yourself. measure your growth. i know this is a lesson that is said all the time. but just realizing it for myself was cool. i love you tons family. thanks for being here for me. ill talk to you all next week

-elder madsen

oh and dad the new language is hard. i dont know if i want to learn it. ill be speaking twi again soon enough anyway. love you

Packages May 18 2015

family!

im so so happy your wedding week was a success. such a stressful time im sure. but im glad it all worked out. the pics were awesome and i am just so so happy for quel & josh to be married. so the harmonica came! it is so sweet. so so sweet. thanks dad! and the jerky...is so dang good. thank you for sending it. i love it! :).

and my friends package came. it was a hunting package. with socks with fish on them. a tie with birds on it. food and a hunting backround on the lid. and another sweet tie. haha it was so nice. 

today i dont have time. we have an activity to go to. so this is about all i can write. but thank you so much, i love you family. till next week!

Happy Mother's Day May 11 2015

*Our family was able to talk with Elder Madsen on the phone for Mother's Day, we heard so many fun stories & his amazing testimony! Hence the short email the next day :) 

Hey!

sorry fam not a ton of time to write this week. dad thank you for answering my questions. and sorry guys i just talked and talked yesterday. just so much to tell. next christmas though ill try to skype. love you all so so much. mom thank you for being the best mom in the world. you're amazing. talk to you all next week! pray for those packages. i should know by either today or tomorrow if they are here. love you all.

here are some pics from the baptism i told you about.

Mission Tour May 4, 2015

hey fam! 

so first of all. what was with the COOLEST CAR IN THE WORLD? if that is michaels im gunna be so jealous. holy cow. that thing is so sweet. if it is his i need to borrow it for some dates. dang it that thing is sweet. i sat here for like five minutes just freaking out looking at it. ah. (Elder Madsen is referring to this pic we sent him...)

so dad. i have a huge favor for you. will you tell Elder Bednar i say hi? let him know that i love him and appreciate him. your weeks sound absolutely crazy. but they are filled with good things. im excited to hear how the face to face event goes. thanks dad for being so awesome and doing so much for our family. so momma no packages yet. im confident they'll be here though. haha and mom i love all the pics we have. we were all such cute lil kids. i am so excited for the wedding and for pics of it.

well fam. missions are definitely hard. tamale is sweet. haha its so hot though. this week we got to go on a mission tour and listen to Elder Dube speak. he is so funny and just a sweet guy. dad we took a pic and he said he would show it to you when he comes to slc. i didnt get one on my camera though. he was so busy. we were gone for almost the whole week so our numbers were low. with the tour we had to travel about 4 hours away. so we stayed for a couple days. our sacrament attendance was 3. but its alright. this week will be better. i am loving my mission. my English is getting a little worse. but it'll be better when i get back home. thats about all i have to write this week. dad i seriously love the thing about light. its so cool. thank you all for being here for me and supporting me. you wouldnt believe what some of the elders had to go through to be on a mission. love you all! hey and hows my lil bro doin?

love, elder madsen

pics. a way pretty field. 

and dad always takes pics of his food. this was a super good avocado and egg breakfast sandwich. i eat them a lot. ;)

Lots of Lessons April 27, 2015

Hey fam!

so first i got some bad news. my camera just lost all of the pics from dichemso with onen and all the way with elder snow and even up till now. and the pics on the other card from the beginning of my mission is corrupted. so basically i have no pics of my mission...baptisms. comps. members. ghanas pretty places. my last bishop and his kids. haha wow. and thats what i thought until I JUST FIXED IT. kinda. it wont display on the camera. it shows that they arent there. and they werent showing up on the computer. until just barely. wow i was so scared.

so these weeks of yours sounds more and more crazy every email i get. dad its so sweet how good you are at speaking. one day i hope to be able to reach your level of speaking. and both of you preparing for the wedding and everything it must be crazy. ha best parents in the world! momo im glad you had a good trip and that you had fun at prom. tenny i hope the play is fun. keep having fun with your friends! its honestly the best thing in the world. mom im glad you had a good birthday. and i am so excited to call home. ya so also i will most likely just be call. i dont know how i would skype. i think that will be fun though. then you wont get to see me till christmas ;) haha missions are long. love it so much though.

so this week was good! a little tamale heat welcomed me and gave me some super weird painful rash on my neck. its better now. and the other pic is of me with my last bishops kids. they are so cute. spencer is the older one. and caleb is the younger.

so this week was awesome! also dad, the reason my legs were sore is not because of the distance but speed my comp walks. its mainly nigerians and ghanains that can walk unbelievably fast but i can keep up just fine. so we had some awesome lessons this week. me and my comp are killing it out here. last week we had 6 investigators at church. and this week we had 11. the families we are working with are awesome. one family, the dad was baptized about 20 years ago. he went inactive then later he got married and started a family. my comp and his last comp contacted the wife right before i came. and then me and my comp met him together for the first time. we walked into his home and he had mormon message posters on the wall. we have been meeting with all of the family and he still has a great testimony. he is a police officer and had to work sunday but the rest of his family came. they have two kids who are old enough to be baptized. they loved it. and he wants his wife and kids to be baptized and he is serious about all of them coming to church. the second awesome family, two of the three kids are baptized. the youngest is 7 and the mom and dad right now are working towards baptism. the mom, beatrice, should be baptized on the tenth of next month. i hope she is. the work here is awesome. and the church is growing. i meet so many interesting people every day. me and my comp yesterday contacted a guy from the u.s. he wasnt going to stay in tamale for very long. he said he was roman catholic and had met with missionaries before. he said he had read the Book Of Mormon. he was cool.

tamale is sweet. and as i learn more and more about the gospel i just get more and more excited to take part in it. like with marriage. and more temple work. and seriously the plan of salvation is my favorite subject. i'm really excited for the rest of our heavenly fathers plan to lay out. family you are amazing. i still have the picture of us all. it sits on my desk and i look at it every day. i love you all so so much. keep me in your prayers. also dad. how well do you know elder dube? we have a mission tour this week. and he will come speak. love ya!!

elder madsen