I Love Prayer October 26 2015

hey family! 

this email was awesome. i love the pics of the face to face event! thats so cool. haha heavenly father definitely helped out with that sunset. by the way, i listened to the talk about our mothers in conference. i just wanted to say thanks mom. you honestly are the best mom i could ever ask for. i just thought about all of the times i was sick, sad, or just lazy. and you are always there to help me through these times. love you so much!! 

so this week was cool. this past sunday was our branch conference. during the conference they had sis afi and sis becky bare their testimony. one thing that was cool that sis afi said, she said she now has a sense of fulfillment. something inside was missing. and now it feels like it has been found. i love that. one thing that i love, is prayer. my testimony on prayer has grown so much on mission. sis afi and becky both bore testimony on prayer. haha they both said that every time the elders would come, elder madsen would ask if they had prayed. and they hadn't. we almost gave up on sister becky. there comes a point where you have done almost everything you can do. the rest is left up to them. they both prayed about the message we had been sharing. and now they are both awesome members. prayers are answered. its funny how our prayers are answered, when they pray and receive an answer. 

also, this week was kinda weird. we went out friday morning for some early appointments. and while we were walking to our area one of the senior couple missionaries calls us and tells us that none of the missionaries should leave the apartment for the whole day. so we went back. apparently that day was called the "fire festival." a day where tons of fireworks are lit off. and people just party. every year they have violence. so all day friday we didnt go out. it reminded me of the movie i am legend. or that one movie quell wanted to see, the purge. nothing happened and all is well. this sunday was also juniors birthday. ema's son. haha so they invited us over to eat. they said that for my birthday we are going to eat a ton. im pretty excited. i gave junior a little light saber thing chlesea sent. it had bubbles in it and lit up. he loved it. here are some pics! 

Birthday dinner for Junior at Ema & Afi's

Junior with a little light saber

i love you family, have a great week! love elder madsen

Fishers of Men...and Fish October 19 2015

hey! 

so first off. i fixed my shoes. ill pick them up today. it wasnt that much. im really excited to not have to proselyte in my crocs anymore! and for my birthday, money in the account is fine. ill get some things with it if i need it. haha michael...that guy. haha i just told my comp what you told me about him going to japan for six months. elder hepworth wants to go to japan really badly. he was pretty jealous. 

so dad i didnt get to watch conference. but i am downloading the talks today. so this week we were able to have daniel and godbless baptized. they are two of ema's players that live with them. they are awesome guys. now the whole house is baptized. the only problem is afi's former church is doing a lot to get her back, we learned that apparently she paid A LOT of tithes. so i think that could be why. really though it is scary. they are saying a lot to afi about the church to get her to leave. but she is a pretty stubborn lady. and she knows the church is true. she tells us all the time that the most important thing to her is her soul. she doesnt want to lose it. 

Baptism of Daniel and Godbless

so i found a scripture that is awesome for myself. its something i need to live by. its prov. 15:1 (a soft answer turneth away wrath). another reason this week was awesome...i went fishing! and ya i caught a fish! ill send some pics. 

Fishing with a stick, string & bottle cap. 

mo tenny and bridger. i had a dream that all of you sang happy birthday to me in the way that pentatonix sings. kennedy could beat box like non other. it was so sweet! and i realized something really cool this week. about all of the gospel. the reason the gospel is taught. the reason we have commandments. we wanted to become like our heavenly father. he wanted us to become like him. we needed a body. so we were put here on the earth. we are given the commandments and the gospel so that our life here on earth will be happy, healthy, and just full of love. if you think about what the gospel teaches, its all for our benefit. it keeps us safe. it teaches us to love and serve one another. thats why we have it. and then if we can do these few things, we will live in eternal joy and happiness. it sounds like a win win. the gospel is sweet. we need to stay strong! i see the world, especially america, influencing the world in so many negative ways. its sad. even here in ghana. a lot of the time we will hear or see music or music videos. and its sad what the world teaches. its honestly so corrupt. i see more and more how alma 41:10 applies. wickedness never was happiness. the things of the world DO NOT bring happiness. the thing that makes people happy is the gospel. being out here you can see the gospel change peoples lives. physically, mentally. in every way. i love it. i NEED to stay strong in the gospel when i get home. fam you need to help me! we can all help each other. i hope you all have an amazing week! but anyway. love you all!

elder madsen

teach a man to fish...

Little Life Lessons October 12 2015

hey fam,

what?! elder twede is coming over?! he is a sweet guy. really smart. such a small world. (*Elder Twede is a former missionary in Ghana who is currently at BYU). ya i get to see my trainer a lot. he is my zl here in tamale. but i think ill be leaving soon. maybe this next transfer. if not then for sure the one after. this week was good. we were able to baptize divine and chimi, sis. afi's son and daughter. we've got almost all the fam now! woo! its just remaining one daughter. she wanted us to baptize her but she doesnt have enough time. she leaves for kumasi this week and we will just give her number to the elders there. i love this family so much. sister afi defends the faith like none other. 

Stirring Bonku

there is a little passage in the book of mosiah 17: 11, 12.  the reason i like it is because it shows what the emotion of anger does. it blinds us. we act in a different way than we normally would. i just think its so cool that the book of mormon and other scripture teach little life lessons like this in these simple ways. i love it. i wish i could dissect the scriptures even more and just understand them better. one day one day. i love you so much family. i hope you have an amazing week. keep emailing me a lot! if i cant respond to everything im sorry. but i love you all. till next week!

elder madsen  

The rain comes down in sheets

PS mom sorry about your back. thats no fun at all. hope you get better soon. and thanks so much for the package. even if it just a letter i'll love it. momo sorry you cant get better. and its good you didnt throw up on your date! and tenny i cant wait to see your dog. speaking of dogs...mom. im going on a bike ride with dad when i get home, so i'll be getting a new puppy too! thats ok right? ;) mom i cant tell you how badly i want to go hunting. and i NEED a good hunting dog. we'll just talk when i get home. :) dad you sound super busy. i love how hard you can work though. you do so much good for so many people. i cant believe easton is almost finished with his mission. they day he leaves will be a sad day for me. but its cool.  things back home sound crazy. most of my friends will be married by the time i get home. insane! itll be a different world when i get back.

Missing Conference Weekends October 5 2015

hey fam!

so first off. i miss conference mornings like crazy. i wish i could be there. i will be able to listen to them. the computer i am at has two usb ports but neither of them work so i dont know that i can send pics of the baptism this week. i love their family so much though. we will be having two more baptisms this week, ema and afi's son and daughter. they want us to come stay at their house when we come back to ghana...they have a nice house. they would feed us well too. i seriously love them. 

Ema & Afi's family

so as far as work with my comp. we had a little talk. and now we are doing a lot better with the work. i know i havent been perfect my whole mission. but i just told him that out on a mission the work takes first priority. we still have tons of fun. but its really cool. once you see what the gospel does, and you know what it will do, it makes the work so much more serious. 

Elder Hepworth & Elder Madsen & photobombing goat

so more on sister afi. she is doing so well right now. she has read the book of abraham. and is about 

to start moses. she used to get offended that we had another book besides the bible. and then this last week she told us she is so grateful for the pearl of great price because it gives way more detail than the bible. she is even sharing it with her friends. they are a very influential and wealthy family. i feel they will do great missionary work. i definitely love tamale more than any other area on my mission. i dont know if that will change when i leave but i doubt it. 

mom i still miss your cooking like crazy. its funny. when i eat even just a little candy i start getting sick. im going to die when i get home. the only sugar i eat is the little i put on my oats in the morning. family, we are so privileged to live where we do. NEVER take it for granted. i love you all so much. have an amazing week! anything you put in the package i will love i still have the happy birthday banner you sent from last time so thats ok! just dont spend too much. love you!

elder madsen

Ema & Afi Baptism September 28 2015

 hey family! 

well dad those pics of the deer look amazing. i cant wait to go again. i cant believe josh has a baby! that is insane. i cant believe we will be getting three new apostles. that is crazy. we dont really get to watch conference. they will try to select some talks and put them on dvds and send them to all apartments. but we can download the audio from the internet and then listen. ill probably do that. 

so this week was really good! first off. there was a muslim holiday. it is HUGE here, of course. this is the one west was talking about. where they will just all buy cows and goats and just kill them in the streets and share all of the meat out. it is a holiday to sacrifice animals to God. its kinda cool. it was really crazy though. so many shops were closed because everyone was celebrating. we were even invited to go eat at a couple homes. we didnt though. 

and another amazing thing this week. SISTER AFI AND EMA WERE BAPTIZED! it was awesome. i was able to baptize. ema doesnt look too big in the pic. but he is huge. it is sad though. he will be confirmed next week and then after that he will be traveling to france for a while. so i will get eastons contact info ;)  ;)....and ill give it to him so he can get a hold of easton when he gets there.

Elder Hepworth, Afi, Ema, Elder Madsen 

it looks like the power might go out again so i just wanted to get that to you. i hope you all   have an awesome week. also this week i was able to pet the cutest goat.

anyway. love you all so much. also mom, helena is doing well :)

looooovvveeee, elda madsen

Time for New Shoes? September 21 2015

hey fam! 

so helena's baptism went on this past sunday! it was awesome. here is a pic. 

Elder Hepworth, Helena, Elder Madsen

and these are my shoes. this was a couple weeks ago. i thinks some sort of bacteria is eating away the bottoms. or just from walking, not sure. but i think ill need to replace them soon. 

its really funny being with someone who just came from the states. he tells me alllll about the things going on back home. its crazy. this week was really good! first of all, i got the dvd and watched it all the way through! it was so funny. so so funny. at the end i was laughting SO HARD. i miss seeing all of the those things that have happened. its crazy. i loved it so much though so thank you for going through all that trouble. one thing dad. my comp is cool  but he sometimes jokes about not going out and proselyting. but we still go out. we work. and training is kind of hard. and we had our first real anti mormon experience. it was interesting. this guy knew more about the church than most of the members here in tamale. it was crazy. he is a cool guy but he just is on the wrong path. 

so one thing that is really funny, when people ask if we can speak any language besides english we just speak pig latin. it was elder hepworths idea. its so funny. they freak out and cannot for the life of them understand what we are saying. sorry i have no time today. the power just went out and we were sitting here for about half an hour. anyway. family im glad to hear you're all doing well. pirate day sure looked awesome and i cant wait to be there for it next year! love you all! 

-elder madsen