Sister Madsen's Mission Blog: Week 23

This week went by so fast!!! Monday was great!!! It was Brother Allan's 50th Birthday. He is our ward mission leader and he is the greatest! Sister Edgel made him jell-o because we heard stories about how he would always win jell-o slurping contests. We thought it would be funny to make him jell-o. I made him a picture with the scripture "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Sister Edgel bought finger paints at the dollar store and so she was making pictures and I suggested she make one for Brother Allan too. We went over to his house but we felt bad because we had no idea they were having a big party. Brother Allan loved the gifts and he even had everyone join in on a jell-o slurping contest. I filmed it and it was hilarious. I wish I could send the video but I think it is too big to send :(.

On Tuesday we went to a Bible study of a person we met tracting. His name is Brock and he invited us in the first time we met him. He has quite the story of how religion has changed his life. He didn't really take our word about the Book of Mormon but he said that he would welcome us back and even invited us to his Bible study one night. We were a little nervous but it turned out to be great. They watched a video and the shared some scriptures from the NIV version of the Bible. Sister Edgel shared some wonderful insights and everyone there was very welcoming. It was a great opportunity to meet more people. And even though we didn't share the Book of Mormon with anyone, I think this could open the doors for future miracles to happen. Before we left I gave Brock a Finding Faith in Christ DVD to add to his collections. I hope that he will one day share that video at his Bible study :).

We picked up 5 new investigators this week! What a miracle!! One morning we made a goal to pick up 2 new investigators because we were going to have a lesson with a couple that night. But they called and canceled the appointment. We were a little sad because we were not going to achieve that goal. But Heavenly Father had a plan. We knocked on the door of Brianna who is the grand-daughter of a less active member. She let us in and was interested in us teaching her. Her father walked in and started listening. I don't know how convinced he is and he seems a little protective of us teaching his daughter but they invited us back. We were able to achieve the goal of picking up 2 new investigators after all!! One of our other new is Shanee who is the friend of another less active member. The member is Tamela and we have frequently gone over to her house to help her and give her comfort. She is struggling with taking care of her 4 little kids. We decided just to go over the basic lessons of the gospel and Shanee joined in and we set up a return appointment. Heavenly Father was definitely guiding us this week.

We were able to meet another less active named Rosie. She lives in a house that is in the middle of nowhere. We have tried to meet her several times but no one has ever answered the door. But she finally did. She was kind. We still don't know why she is less active but she was grateful that we visited her. Hopefully we can continue to meet with her and help her come back to church.

Saturday there was a couple that took us out to dinner. Their names are Kelly and Mark. They are a couple that Sister Edgel taught in her last area. And they really wanted to take us out to dinner. They drove to Champaign so they could meet us. We went out to Olive Garden. It was great. They bought Sister Edgel roses which was a nice surprise.

There were so many other people that we met and so many other great stories but I just don't have the time to write them all!!! I do have one more funny story though. On Saturday we were at a missionary coordination meeting with us, the zone leaders and our ward mission leader, Brother Allan. (the zone leaders are in our ward). We usually eat lunch at Brother Allan's house while we are going over things for the meeting. We had fried rice and there were a few different sauces there if we wanted them. There was a Korean hot sauce that Brother Allan said he "inherited' from someone. He said it was super hot and her has had it for a while. Sister Edgel decided to try some because she likes hot stuff. She said it was really really hot and the elders tried a little too. I didn't though. I am a wimp when it comes to hot stuff. A few minutes later I decided to look at the label. Most of it was in Korean but there was some English too. I read the ingredients and I stopped on one that said "spirits" (aka alcohol!). I turned to sister Edgel and showed her the label. She then turned to Brother Allan and was shocked that he had never realized that the hot sauce had alcohol in it! haha we all laughed really hard. And Brother Allan immediately threw it away. It was really funny. It was an honest mistake but Sister Edgel thought it was funny that now she could say that she had alcohol on her mission at her ward mission leader's house. haha Brother Allan went off and told us about how there was a bible story about the difference between sinning and sinning in ignorance. It was so funny.

I love you all! Good news is that it is getting warmer here. It got as hot as 60 degrees this week. I really think that this weather is bipolar. One minutes is pouring rain and the next there is not a cloud in the sky. I can say that the Midwest has the prettiest sunsets ever. I have never seen a dark red sunset before until last night. I tried to take a picture but it was too dark to pick up the colors. Love you all!!!!!!!!!

I forgot to tell you that transfer calls are coming this Saturday! I am a little nervous for what changes may be coming but most likely I will be staying in Champaign. For those who don't know how transfers work: A transfer is a period of 6 weeks. At the end of the transfer there is an opportunity that we could move to a different area, but it is highly unlikely to get moved every transfer. You usually stay in an area for at least 2 transfers if not more. On the course of my mission, i will go through about 13 transfers and about 4-5 areas. I have been in Champaign for 1 1/2 transfers (the extra 1/2 came from the emergency transfer in January). also a cool side note, our planners cover 6 weeks so it is cool to have a new planner for every transfer. I hope this is making sense. Sometimes it gets confusing. I will let you know how transfer calls go and if I will be moving or not. :) Love you all!!!!!