Muy Caliente!

 Hello everyone,

We had a lot of work this week and I am tired from all of our service so I’m glad it’s Monday, our day of preparation.


To start off, we got a referral to a woman named Selene, who seemed pretty interested in taking the lessons and we even gave her a book of Mormon to which she was very grateful. However, come the following day, after spending an hour or so trying to get members to come with us, we show up to her apartment and she wasn't there. Unfortunate, we hope she's doing well and reading the Book of Mormon. 

We also got to teach Fredy, our current friend who wants to be baptized. Well, we more or less taught his nephew. It was pretty interesting to say the least. Taught me more about testifying and trying to be simple.

I also finally got to talk to a friend that my companion had taught quite a bit before I came in. We kept trying to set up times to meet with her brother, but he'd never be there when we'd show up. Anyway, her name is Sheny and she was super nice, did make fun of my Spanish-speaking ability, but hey it's all in good humor. It was just kind of a nice change to teach a really solid lesson and be a part of it in Spanish, if only for a moment. The feeling of joy is something I can't quite express, just knowing that I can help others achieve happiness that I've experienced.


We also taught one family we visit quite often about faith in Jesus Christ. There are three kids there who are all so willing and ready to participate that it just melts my heart. Melody, Denise, and Renaldo. Great kids. Also, Renaldo's birthday was on Sunday and we gave him some candy as a present. 

We also finally were able to get into contact with someone who went to church randomly, her name is Giset and we talked for a bit. She really likes board games. Somehow the first boardgame I could think of was Settlers of Catan. 

Anyway, we played UNO for a bit, Elder González won like the beast he is. She also came to church this Sunday, and we hope we can keep meeting with her.

This past week we also had quite a bit of service. There's a really nice woman who lives right next to our church and we helped her out by cleaning up the pine needles from her trees and helping her re-seed her front lawn. She made us breakfast both times she is a super sweet woman. We also helped out a guy named Robert as a district. We mostly just took out trash from his garage into a U-Haul. Then they got us some food from a nearby Mexican place, and they gave us jalapeños. You know what that means...



Yeah one Elder took one bite and couldn’t handle it, so I said: "I can do better than that." And I proceeded to eat my words. PAINFUL!


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GU_5cM_wqyrR9N6ShYkVrTso1ctrfXdI/view?usp=sharing

This week I was struck by the small and simple things. This is a thought from one of the twelve Apostles Elder Oaks,

“And thus we see that by small means the Lord can bring about great things” (1 Nephi 16:29). The Old Testament includes a memorable example of this. There we read how the Israelites were plagued by fiery serpents. Many people died from their bites (see Numbers 21:6). When Moses prayed for relief, he was inspired to make “a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole.” Then, “if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived” (verse 9). Such a small thing for such a miraculous result! Yet, as Nephi explained when he taught this example to those in the Book of Mormon who were rebelling against the Lord, even when the Lord had prepared a simple way by which they could be healed, “because of the simpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished” (1 Nephi 17:41). 

I know that is the small and simple things we do each day that make the difference like giving thanks, praying, looking for opportunities to serve, reading the words of the Lord, smiling at others, looking to lift others instead of judging. 


I invite all of you to focus on a small and simple aspect of the gospel of Jesus Christ and see how it blesses your life and the lives of those around you. 

This week has been really great, and I hope all of your weeks have been fantastic too.


Best,
Elder Madsen

Conner Madsen <madsen.conner@missionary.org>

Pictures:

Me and Elder Maus (he ate the jalapeño first)

The district in the restaurant

The district at service

Lunch

No buffet :(

Me eating a jalapeño and dying

 

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