Week 8.

This week I have truly learned that there is opposition in all things. This week we had zone conference-where our mission president and his counselors train us. His wife, Sister Hanks, talked about how we cant compare ourselves to others. satan wants me to doubt, self criticize, and feel discouraged. but I am here on a mission serving my heavenly father. I am doing a hard thing.

 

This week I sensed myself getting stressed out.It was in the morning and I was trying to call all the people we wanted to see that but not one of them answered. I was getting stressed out b/c 3 members wanted to come out and teach with us and I want to give them an uplifting experience. I wanted to have appointments so we could be productive. so my poor companions noticed I was a little tense and instead of getting annoyed or ignoring me or talking bad about be behind my back, they just showed me love. in the kindest manner possible they just stopped me and said "breath. relax. everything will work out." it is amazing how well we already know, trust, and love each other only after meeting 6 week ago. I am so grateful that we can be open and honest, b/c communication is essential to every good relationship. i am learning to be better at this . i was able to enjoy their hugs and relax.

 

but later in the week i was getting frustrated with myself again. nothing seemed to be working out-nobody was answering their doors and all our appointments were falling through. i told my companions that i felt like a horrible missionary, and they reminded me that we had done all we could do. but i doubt myself and ask "did i really do everything i could? did we just not plan well enough?" idk and it stressed me out! i feel so much pressure to be perfect b/c i know im supposed to be here and i do not want to waste any time. i want so badly to do what is right.

 

being on a mission is basically just a mind game. it is a constant battle between good and evil. since i am 100% devoted to doing what HF wants me to do-bring his children happiness-satan is working extra hard on me. i get frustrated and sad. i try to do what is right and them something else bad happens. one day this week i just started laughing bc i could not believe all the frustration as to what was happening!

 

and that is why i am SO THANKFUL sister hanks talked about self doubt! her wisdom is priceless. she said that we need to stop comparing our weaknesses to other peoples strengths. we must understand that life is a process and a journey. we learn "line upon line, precept upon precept" (d & c 98:12) and we grow bit by bit. she recounted how her and prez love going on walks and admiring house being built. they have a funny fascination with houses that just have the framing done. they love looking at where the bedrooms will be, how the light will come in, etc. They appreciate the beauty they see and the solid foundation, dreaming about what a gorgeous home it will be one day. and that is exactly how they view us missionaries. we have sturdy foundations in christ with so much potential. we have amazing qualities and talents and personalities and backgrounds. but we are all learning. we are not going to be perfect right now. we are merely an instrument in gods hands. they see us as the houses- with so much potential. my 18 months out here in alabama is all bout PROGRESS, NOT PERFECTION!

we need to be happy as we see growth in ourselves. she said "lengthen your stride, but don't split your crotch!"

 

oh how i love being a missionary. i am learning more about myself than i could in any other situation! i am learning to love instead of judging or getting annoyed. i am realizing how truly blessed i am. i am so humbled and thankful for all the emotions and experiences i am having.  there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for. focus on the positives and you will have peace of mind. i am so thankful for jesus Christ. he is the reason why i can overcome  my weaknesses. he loves me unconditionally and gives me strength to stand up every hour. i love his light, it illuminates my life.

 

on sunday i gave a talk in church on gratitude and blessings! afterwards a wonderful lady we are teaching said "geez!!! what are you on?!!! I need some of that happy juice!!" i am so humbled that heavenly father and jesus Christ can work through me. i am merely an instrument in their hands. i am the framework and they are slowly building me into a beautiful home. it isn't always easy, but neither is building a house. it takes time, effort, and hard work. nailing things together, pondering and planning what it will look like, setting goals and deadlines-all things i am doing out here in Alabama. i know heavenly father knows my heart and understands that i am trying my best. he will make up the rest. i love feeling their power every single day, the love and comfort is truly indescribable. i love being a missionary. i love i.t i love it. i love it!!!!

 

have a happy thanksgiving y'all!!! i will be eating a deep fried turkey down here! whoo hoo!

 

all my love,

sister madsen

 companions :) sister Jensen is leaving Wednesday :( sister haws and i will stay in Prattville!

 my home boy javaris-we danced and sang and had races outside. he can duggie and sprint like now other! gave me a run for my money! i was signing "our god is an awesome god!!!!!" at the top of my lungs. SO FUN!!!

 mamie!!! also-i got a haircut from a less active! :)

 went to the most red neck place EVER!!!! this is a real bear and i am holding a bow. they had tons of guns, confederate flags everywhere, were cooking up deer meet, huge huge HUGE muddy trucks, and camo upon camo. LOVE IT!

the elders are precious and tried really hard to make a creative sign but it was all black pen scribbles....so i helped  them out a bit hahah then we saw them as we were driving to an appointment! so FUN! they are the zone leaders and are truly inspiring and keep me laughing everyday!

Ain't No Room For Judgment: Week 7

Lots of beautiful things happened this week. But I feel impressed to share one lovely story with y'all!!

 

We drove to see a lady Mamie but she was not home. We saw 2 black guys sitting outside of her neighboring trailer.They told us Mamie wasn't home and we started a conversation. We went up to them and were just being friendly and open. One guy had a hood on with a hat and huge neon shoes and was bumping gnarly rap music super loud. the other was very overweight, was wearing 2 pairs of pants because one was sagging to his knees and the other was only sagging a little. I asked their names and the larger one said "God. Jesus" I was confused/could barely understand him so I just asked the other guy and he said "Rashad". At first they were just messing with us asking how many moms we had. As conversation kept flowing they became more and more sincere. Rashad asked what the difference was between Mormons and other Christian denominations. We taught them about prophets and priesthood authority. We explained how God loves all of his children equally and that he wouldn't just send prophets to teach/guide his children in the ancient times (Adam, Noah, Moses). Thus we have a prophet on the earth today-Thomas S Monson-who holds the same power (priesthood) that Christ had on the earth. Rashad was loving it, trying to say "Monson", but he was having a hard time. as we kept talking to him my love for him as a child of god was growing deeper and deeper. He turned off his crazy music and was fully engaged in the conversation. I was having fun with him, learning from his culture and just appreciating every detail about his countenance. We continued to explain that after Christ and his 12 apostles died, that power was lost from the earth. Then our home boy joseph smith comes into play because he lived in the 1830s and wanted to know which church he should attend. he read james 1:5 in the bible, "if any of ye lack wisdom, let him ask of god". he surely lacked wisdom as a confused 14 year old boy. thus he went into a grove of trees near his house and knelt to pray. this is how he describes the experience "I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. when the light rested up me I saw 2 personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. one of them spake unto me, calling me by name, pointing to the other, saying, "this is my beloved son, hear him". at that moment jesus Christ and god appeared to joseph and told him that he should join none of the churches. some time passed, joseph matured, and god sent angels to teach joseph what he needed to do about it. eventually joseph smith was able to RESTORE the same exact church that jesus Christ set up when he was on the earth. he got the priesthood power (mans ability to act in gods name) from angels. By this power he was able to translate the golden plates, which words are now found in the book of Mormon! SO RAD!!!

 

when we taught this to rashad and his friend-who told us his real name was frank- they understood. it made sense. You could see the light in their eyes growing and the nodding of heads agreeing as the Holy Ghost was confirming the truths we were teaching. Rashad really opened up and started telling us about his concerns and where he was at in his life. he told us he was lost. he said he was feeling down and sad until we showed up. he was so amazed that we were there talking to him because he had been praying for change. he said when we first pulled up and saw us get out of the car he was confused, "why in the world are these 3 girls in nice skirts driving a nice car in this neighborhood?" (I'm assuming the neighborhood is not very safe bc mamie wont let us come around when it is dark out). but he was SO THANKFUL that we were HUMBLE enough to talk to him. he didn't understand how we could possibly see the good in him. he told us he was a gang banger and showed us his tattoos. Nonetheless, he was inspired by our happiness and knew god had sent us there. he knew something was different about us. he felt gods love emanating through us. we explained that the great spirit/aura we had was the light of Christ in us, not us. we helped him understand that he could get the Holy Ghost and feel this same pure joy and peace forever! he said, "no. because yall brought it here and I cant go with you!" we all laughed. 

 

as the discussion went on, he mentioned how we all have a purpose in this life, and that he thought us 3 sisters were fulfilling ours. he said we were angels. at this moment I was overcome with gratitude. being on a mission isn't always easy. yes I always sound excited in my emails because it makes me so happy, but that doesn't mean every moment is perfect. we work hard for our experiences out here. we study, pray, ponder, read, pray, pray some more- all day long. we wake up at 6:30 and don't go to bed until 10:30. and sometimes I doubt if im doing enough. when he said we were angels and that we were fulfilling our purpose I knew god was proud of me. god knows our hearts and exactly how we feel. he knows we are trying. and let me tell you-being called an angel is the most humbling, amazing thing anyone can say to you. he was genuine and I really did feel like an angel, truly on the Lord's errands. God placed two of his most incredible sons in our path and we were able to uplift them.

 

my heart was so full and the smiles we shared were genuine. rashad was also so very happy-it was miraculous just to see how his countenance changed as we stood there in the freezing windy weather talking to him. he felt the holy ghost (recognized by feelings of peace, love, joy, comfort, happiness). he almost cried and he admitted it "hey I aint fixin to cry now but what youre saying feels so good" it was beautiful to see such a tough, black gangster (literally) have a mighty change of heart because the he had  been touched by the spirit. he said "yall are just so happy go lucky, how could I not indulge and see where this is all coming from?!" 

 

I titled this story "ain't no room for judgement" because we can't judge a book by its cover. if we had, we would've been scared little girls who walked right past these thuggish black guys into our car, fearing for our own safety assuming they didn't want to talk about god. but we didn't. we recognized them as 2 of gods wonderful children just trying to survive this life. as a missionary I am truly able to see people as god does. we are all his children. he does not care where we've been or what we are wearing or how much money we have, all he cares about is where we are going. he wants us to be happy. he sees the potential we all have and that is what motivates me to keep working. I know everyone on earth can become happier and have peace in their lives through the gospel. And the moments when people feel God's love is priceless. They cannot deny it. Their faces light up and I see them as beautiful people, no matter what the world would see them as.

 

I know this gospel is centered on Jesus Christ and his atonement, which allows everyone to change. Christ suffered for the world, and all he wants is for us to turn to him. he is waiting with outstretched arms. he is here to help us through everything in life-he felt our sorrows, doubts, confusions, and pains in order to succor us. God and Jesus Christ love each of us more than we can possibly imagine. Their love is pure and boundless. it is always here. may we all give away a few more smiles and love everyone, no matter what they look like, is my prayer.

 

have a wonderful week and remember that god loves you!!!!!!

 

Sister Madsen

 Crazy Christmas village!!!!!!

 my camera has some cool settings hahhaha

 Sister Jensen :) probably leaving for brazil soon!!

 Kim, Javaris, Lil' willy, Sister Haws

 sister Jensen and sister madsen.

 umbrella!!! loving the fresh rain and cold!

 

 we walked past a car show and decided to talk to everyone there! perfect opportunity! this old man gave us all these gift certificates and said we should "pay it forward" and give it to someone who would use it if we didn't want to! love it!

 beautiful bama!

 our district!!!!!!! I LOVE EVERYONE SO MUCH!

sister Cunningham-not even in our ward- left a package of hot coco, cupcakes, cider, marshmellows and a card at our door on the freezing day! such a miracle!

Week 6!

Well well well!!!! this week has gone by SO fast!!! but of course, it has been wonderful!!!

 We had zone training on Tuesday and I loved it! Every little thing they addressed was exactly what I needed to hear! How to bring the Holy Ghost, what to do when it is dark (because the sun sets at 4:30pm and we stay out until 9pm), how to spend an extra 20 minutes, talking to everyone, how to initiate conversation, what to do during sacrament meeting, stress, being your self and a missionary, serving from your strengths, being comfortable saying "I don't know" and following with your testimony, seeking referrals and contacting them, having a vision, not comparing, and involving members were all topics we covered. It was AMAZING! At one point we were trying to decide what our zone baptism goal should be for November. We were debating between 9 and 12, then our STL said "well why don't we pray!" So we all got down on our knees and an elder said a prayer. We all got back into our chairs and just sat there pondering. Our ZL said, "well what do we think?" we all sat there some more and then the spirit just filled my soul up and the word came spitting out of my mouth "12". I was like, "seriously ella!!! you are the new missionary! you don't even know what you are doing! and in october there were 0 baptisms!" but i felt the prompting and followed. it was beautiful. then a few others followed and all said 12 as well. so 12 it is. we must do every little thing in our power to make this goal come to pass. i am not going to waste one minute! there are people who are ready for our message and we are going to find them. So Zone Training got the fire burning even brighter and we are so excited to go forward this month and find, teach, baptize! It is so motivating to see so many young people who are STEADFAST IN CHRIST (our mission motto). I love it!

One beautiful thing that happened this week: We went over to a less active lady Manna's house to follow up on her Book of Mormon reading. We were very excited to hear she had been keeping her commitment and reading 30 minutes everyday! We had shown her the BoM videos online so she could better understand the stories before reading all the details. It really brought the stories to life and she said she could hardly put the book down! Whooo hooo!!! Then we asked, "How has your life changed since you started reading the BoM again?" She sat there pondering, then said with the most beautiful, genuine smile on her face, "Well, I haven't thought about it until you asked, but I smile more." It was incredible to physically and spiritually see the difference in her face. The light of Christ is real and we could see it glowing from within her. Oh how I love the Book of Mormon and the power held within its pages. I love seeing it change people. This is why I am here-to help others feel the same happiness, peace, and blessings that come from living a Christ centered life, and I LOVE IT! 

One hard thing: I have to watch people choose to be unhappy. It is heartbreaking when people know and understand what they need to do-pray, read the scriptures, and go to church-but they just don't have the will power to do so. I have been pondering and praying about how to motivate people. One thing I need to do is promise specific blessings. If people understand the specific "reward" they will get by keeping the commitments we extend, then they will want to do it! I mean WHO DOESN'T WANT TO BE HAPPY! PEACEFUL, LOVED AND WITH THEIR FAMILY FOREVER!!! And that is just the beginning!! The gospel is everything and it gets me so excited!!! I just wish people could feel the same way I do! But our purpose here on earth is to grow and experience life-thus we have agency. I am trying to have more patience, compassion, and love when working with people. But I can assure you I have a lot of work to do! That is the beauty of it all though-we are here to learn and grow!! And I am SO GRATEFUL I am here in Alabama to do so. 

I know Christ lives and He is our Savior. There is nothing more powerful or rewarding or humbling or motivating than wearing HIS NAME on my tag every single day. I am a servant for the one and only Jesus Christ. This is the greatest calling in the world! I love bopping around Prattville and talking to everyone and complimenting them. I am trying to be like Jesus by building everyone in my path. I feel His love shining on everyone when I smile or talk to others. My goal in doing this is to help people see His light working through me. This is not me at all, this is Him. I just try to leave everyone with a positive experience of the little Mormon girls! SO fun! 

I know I am being watched over and prayed for and I am so grateful. The power of God is real and the priesthood is the biggest blessing. We have the exact same authority that Jesus had on earth!!! What what!!!! So miraculous! This is HIS CHURCH I am representing, He is here with me. I know it. And I love it. 

Go forward this week and try to be better tomorrow than you are today! 

With all my love, enthusiasm, and gratitude,

Sister Ella Rae Madsen!!!!

 Some delicious Pecans!

Sister Haws and Ella!

Week 5!!!

Hello hello!!! life here in Prattville is kickin!!!!!!!!!! I am learning so much I don't even know where to begin!

 

this week I got to go on exchanges with sister bush from la Canada. she is maks age and went to byu Hawaii. she is a dream come true. we are basically the same person-so full of energy and happiness. I think people were getting overwhelmed. the district leader called and he was like "oh boy both of you are together!!!!!! that is too much enthusiasm for people to handle!" so true, yet so fun. I learned SO much from her-baptism invites are not scary, I need to be bold and stay focused on my purpose, and i need to use my enthusiasm to help people understand how the gospel will benefit them. I was observing her in teaching situations just thinking "holy cow she is perfect how will I ever be that good of a missionary?!" but she is just the nicest, sweetest, cute little thang and she makes me feel so loved. so I am applying the things I observed and it is wonderful. i am learning to have patience with myself, because god is slowly making me into the missionary he needs me to be. this is a learning experience, i am not just going to be awesome right now! hahah we met this one family out in the open grasslands of Alabama and they started singing some gospel music for us. i was loving it! and then sister bush sang "where can i turn for peace" and the spirit was so strong. it was beautiful and peaceful. she has a voice of an angel. then the fam said a prayer and of course we all hold hands and they are just praising their lord jesus. i am constantly reminded of my days at tlcs and it is so classic!!!! we also taught this other lady the restoration and at the end we all sat in the longest, most beautiful, needed silence in the world. she just starting balling. you could see the spirit touching her SO strongly. it was something she had never experienced. she couldn't explain it but she knew god loved her. and it was remarkable. that is what we live for here and i love when people tap into that love!! it is REAL!

 

the companions are great. we are learning to be more unified, which requires lots of communication! especially with 3 of us. and i love to talk so i am trying to be quiet and let the other sisters talk, but most importantly-let the people we are teaching talk!!!! sister Jensen is full of love. she is always hugging everyone and staring into their souls with this precious look she can put on. i love it. sister haws is 22 and full of knowledge. she is the oldest of 9 kids so she is very calm and knows everything about cooking. she is the one who answers all the hard questions. shes basically taken every religion class at byu so that's awesome. and i basically just bring the energy. hahha we are all motivated to work hard and that is wonderful. i am so thankful!!

 

a few experiences from the week:

 

1. we went over to visit the lady who was naked and i helped do the leg exercises with. she knows we are sent from god bc she really needed someone to come over and help her out but her family wouldn't even call. so she cried and was so thankful. everyone cries around here-whether it is out of sadness or the pure gladness of the gospel. it is quite entertaining. so i carry tissues and they actually come in handy! so we filled up a bucket with hot water and put baby oil in it and massaged her feet. she said we were like jesus and i was like "hollaaaaaaaaaaaaaa that is exactly what we are trying to do!" i was loving it.

 

2. we went to teach this other lady who is in her 50s and lives alone. it was 8pm and pitch black. she lives in a trailer and it has nothing around it but scary forests. we were trying to teach her the 1st lesson but she couldn't stop ranting about her life. and this was the 2nd or 3rd time we had seen her! she has has 2 abusive husbands and has a son who committed suicide when he was 18 in the forest that surrounds her house! and she has the same picture of her son up in her little house like 50 times. and it is so scary because his hair is covering his eyes in the pic. she was telling us how she has the wood with the blood on it that her sons head was last on in her room. we were like "wow, that's beautiful". now don't you dare show us! and she was telling us how she covers all her windows bc people used to stalk her and that she has a loaded gun just in case. so after that lesson we all had an earie feeling so we are going to teach her at chick-fil-a from now on. much more friendly/not haunted environment. but she has had a really beyond difficult life and you just cant help but love them. god loves all of us, whether we deserve it or not. and he wants us to succeed!!!

 

3. we met this boy mr smooth the other day and we were just chatting about positivity and life and i asked him to be baptized. he said yes. i basically started cracking up because i could not believe i actually did that. so funny!!!

 

4. the other day we planned our day well and after church we visited 10 people-some with appointments, some without but not one person opened their door!!!!!!! so sad. so we finally went to our last ladies house and of course she wasn't there. but we said hello to the workers across the street and this one man says "hey do you have a bible?" i said "well yes!!!!!" this little old black man desperately runs over to me and i hand him the book of Mormon. he promised he would read it with his daughter and was pleading for us to come over. it was a MIRACLE! you could see it all in his eyes- he needed god and he knew it. God had tried our faith and satan had began to make us feel like failures b/c we had taught 0 people, but then we found that old man and it was beautiful!

 

5. we went to a trailer park to teach this lady but she dropped us so i said "hey lets go talk to those girls!" we walk over and just start chatting. it ended up being a beautiful gospel discussion with a 21, 19, and 17 year olds girls. they all had babies and were smoking and were beat by their boyfriends. it was so sad to see their lives but they were SO nice and open and interested in the gospel. they said "maybe im Mormon" bc they were telling us their beliefs and they were directly lined up with ours! so awesome! and they believe in god and the 19 year old has a daughter who is 1 1/2 and she looks about 27. so crazy. but she knows god and has tons of experiences in her life to show her this. and they really want to go to the baptism and church! unfortunately they didn't make it to either but maybe next week!

 

6. starkeisha was baptized. she is in the other ward but we invited investiagtors so we got to go! we brought kim and her 2 sons (which we had to find a ride for, and get a carseat for) and her neighbor shakeria (snooki). we also brough michelle and her 2 daughters! it was beautiful! i was talking to kim and she said she def wanted to be baptized. WHOOT hoot! and the little girl shakeria is only 8 but i love her. she was begging me to be baptized. she was saying "Madison-when can i do it?!? i want to! " i was asking her "how do you know?" she said god was telling her in her heart. and it is easy to write children off but i know she has felt god. we have had a few little ocnversations when she has been outside and i have great faith in her! and she was asking me if i had a book for her! well YES precious little daughter of god, here is the bom! we went back the next day and i said we really need to nkock on her door and she came out and said she had been reading! what!? what 8 year old reads the book of Mormon? and it is so sad bc i know her mom does tons of drugs and just doesn't treat her right. snooki (her nickname) didn't choose to be born into that family and she cant change anything. so i sure hope her mom lets us keep teaching her bc she has so much potential!!

 

well sorry this is the most long/random.rant in the world.

 

Halloween was AWESOME!!! i painted my nails, made funfetti pancakes (thank you fullers!) and dressed in orange and black. loved it!

 

and a HUGE thank you to everyone who wrote me letters! i am writing yall back asap! Emmett, mom, sarah bullen, jenny smith, jane pera, mary partin, sandy, garrett taylor/jane busk (in the mexico mtc together!!! so fun!), 2 from megan bertha, rose leopold, zoe hart!!! I FEEL SO LOVED, HUMBLED, AND GRATEFUL for yall in my life. it was so glorious to read your heartfelt words.

 

oh and we picked pecans this week! there are trees everywhere and the pecans are so huge and heavenly! i love finding food in nature! such a novel idea these days!!!!! hahha

 

i love yall so much! the church is true! the atonement is infinite and here for everyone! the power is real and we can change! no matter what! so beautiful!

 

xoxo Sister Madsen

 Sister Bush

 The Hawaiian plantation. I look scary, but the scenery is gorgeous!!!

my homeboys. javarus and lil' willy!

 Sister Bush

 just driving in our friend laurens car! enjoying the breeze and cowboy hat! why not!?

pumpkin pancake i made! so yummy! it even had bananas in it! so fun!

 Halloween. haha

 sister platt (from san diego, bffs with megan, ty, marie, lauren, drew, etc) and i are in the same district!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! crazy how that worked out! so we see each other all the time! and at district mtg we both got matching letters from our mutual friend sarah bullen!!!!! so fun!

 

thank you for all the goodies!!

Week 4.

Hello lovely people who happen to be reading this post!!! I love y'all and I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Life is honestly too good to be true. Prattville is incredible and the work is moving forward! I'm realizing this work is so much bigger than me, and I am very humbled to be apart of it. By internalizing my purpose and focusing on OTHER peoples eternal salvation, I am able to stay motivated and enthused about life!!!

This week I have tried to put my HEART and MIND into my work here and everything has changed! I can truly say from the inside out that I am so very happy!!!! Today we had a zone party where we ate pizza, played knockout, ultimate Frisbee, football, and waxed our cars!!!!!!!! Best thing ever!!! I was just going crazy because I WAS SO HAPPY! I was jumping around and laughing and just being so pumped on life. Thus the secret is out-everyone has now been exposed to the real ella! hahhaha Everyone was so confused it was hilarious. Like "how in the world do you have so much energy?!?? who is training you?!!!!!!!" I love when I get in those moods! It is just because the church is so true and Jesus makes me so happy. That is the bottom line! Read the scriptures, pray, serve others, and you will be happy!

I love all the people here and all the lessons we teach! I truly know I am a representative of Jesus Christ. There is no greater calling. He is the MAN!!!!!!!! Seriously though. He is the reason for everything and He is my best friend. One thing special and really amazing we get to do here in Alabama is leave the Savior's peace and blessing on peoples homes. So even though I am a girl, I have been set apart and for this 18 months can have this authority!!! We say "Heavenly Father, In virtue of our calling as missionaries and representatives of Jesus Christ, we ask for the Saviors peace and blessing on this the [      ] home..." Every time someone lets us in the door and lets us do this I feel the spirit. Even though people are from different faiths, the peace you feel is undeniable. I know God loves all of His children more than we will ever know. He is allowing me to love people with my whole heart that I just meet by knocking on their door! I am so motivated to work because I know there are prepared people out there! We just have to work our hardest so we can find them! Imagine-there are 40,000 people here in Prattville-if we talked to all of them we would have 100's of baptisms!!!! So incredible! I can assure you the "field is white already to harvest", and I am here to do what the Lord wants me to do!

I feel the spirit everyday and know God is watching out for all y'all wherever you may be. The church is true. Joseph Smith saw Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father in the sacred grove. He restored the fullness of the gospel on the earth. We have the priesthood power on the earth today. We have a prophet called of God to guide us in these latter days. I LOVE the English language more than I can tell you because I learn so much from the scriptures everyday. I just want to read them all day long! hahha but not really, because it is my responsibility to share this glorious news with everyone else!

whooo hooooooooooooo! 

with all my love,

Sister Ella Rae Madsen

 Dale and all of her Perfume! She said there are over 1,000!

 Ella said that there are signs like these everywhere!

 Sister Barczak (she makes every missionary a keychain of Prattville)

 Chocolate Palooza!

 Ella's companions are the ones in the front.

   Ella's investigator Glenda!

Made it to Ellabama! - Week 3

I am in Prattville, Alabama!!! What a dream! I am in a tripanionship so I have 2 lovely trainers-Sister Jensen from Nashville (who has been waiting for her Brazil visa for 6 months!) and Sister Haws from Washington state. We all get along great and I am so humbled and grateful for them!!

Note, new address for sending letters: (Don't use the old address!)

Sister Ella Rae Madsen 100 McQueen Smith Rd South Apt. A6 Prattville, AL 36066

A few funny things:

1. EVERYONE thinks I have an accent.

2. I've been fed: Kraft's mac n cheese, Papa John's pizza, hot dogs, chicken and dumplings, deer, biscuits, kool aid, candy, and chips.

3. Thus all I eat at the apartment is apples, raw cauliflower, and plain greek yogurt.

4. No one has teeth. The other day we were teaching this old couple on their porch and I was getting to know the lady. Talking about how I was from California and she muttered something. I said "Mud? Bird? Married?" Then her husband spat out "murdered!". Her daughter was murdered in California. "Oh..." Yikes!!! I was just all bubbly trying to understand what the poor lady was saying! I felt so bad.

The first week in the field has been crazy.I feel so exhausted at the end of each day it's insane. This is hard hard work, but it really is worth it. When I have felt the lowest, God has given me a miracle to bring it all back up! All the people here are GOOD people. Everyone believes in God and I love that. I LOVE personal study and companion study in the morning because the scriptures teach us so much! They are for us and we need to read them! Your questions can be answered and you can receive personal revelation! God teaches me through the scriptures everyday and it truly gives me the strength to keep going!

My mission president and his wife are the best. So loving and friendly and easy going. I am SO grateful. His favorite thing to say is "TURN OUTWARD". Instead of having all the arrows facing toward you, grab them and turn them around. If you ever think about yourself, stop. We focus on LOVE and SERVICE here and that is what brings success. When we focus our efforts on other people we really do find happiness. So when we go door to door we just ask for service opportunities! We painted a ladies wall, are raking this other ladies yard, clean, etc. The other day I held this ladies leg and helped her do exercises to recover from a hip replacement. But she only had on underwear! Love it!  

I am not very good at turning outward but my goal for this week is to dedicate not just my strength, time and abilities to the Lord, but to give him my HEART and MIND. Whenever I start to think of myself or long to be somewhere else, I am going to say a prayer for someone else! I am taking President Hinckley's dads advice to "forget myself and get to work!". I love that! I get to decide how this next 18 months will go, so I must find the positive in every situation!

The members here are incredible!!!! We get someone to go out with us everyday! It helps so much because the investigators have someone to relate to, can make a new friend, and feel more comfortable when a member is with us! Just like I had to recruit people to donate blood for Red Cross Blood Drives, we get to help members understand why it is so important they come teach with us! And it is wonderful!

God knows us each perfectly. He is in every tiny detail of this work. It blows my mind. Everything I've done in life has prepared me for this experience. I am beginning to realize how large and perfect Heavenly Father's plan really is. It is beautiful! I love it here and am learning so much! I am grateful it is hard. I am grateful I am new and don't know anything. I am reaching outside of my comfort zone and growing.

Whoooo hooooo!!!! Have a lovely, cheerful, positive week my friends!!

With all my love,

Sister Ella Rae Madsen

Ella and Elder Patch at the MTC!

Ella's MTC companion Sister Butterfield. 

Sister Butterfield :)

Future Home.

Ella's good friend Lyman going to the Ukraine.

Another friend at the MTC, Sister Herndon going to Ohio.

Prancing the MTC. 

Ella's MTC district.

Sister Neufville in Alabama

Twins!

MTC

MTC - Week 2!

First of all, I LOVE BEING A MISSIONARY!!!!

I was clearly struggling in my last email, but what a blessing that is! I am learning so much. I've grown and changed more than I could've ever imagined in 10 days. And I love it all! I am SO happy!!


Remember the story about Christ holding us in the fire so he can refine us that I used in my farewell? I'm in that fire because Christ is helping me become the disciple He needs me to be. 

What I've learned this week: MISSIONS ARE HARD, but MIRACLES ARE REAL.

One thing that has been on my mind since getting here has been finding the balance between being "Ella" and a "serious missionary". As I was praying for what question to bring to conference, the same thought came into my mind on 2 occasions. "Who do you want to be?"

WOW. From the minute conference started until the last word spoken, I received countless answers. Faith and humility. I need to put my trust in God while being like a child-humble, meek, obedient, and submissive. Every talk was mind blowing and the personal revelation was flowing! I am so beyond grateful!!! I could write so much about every talk. So if you didn't listen to all 4 sessions, I would encourage you to look up the talks. They will give you the advice, comfort, and wisdom you need in this crazy world.

Tuesday night devotional: Emeritus General Authority John M. Madsen spoke on the Atonement and having "dignity". Loved it. I was just SO happy coming home-you know the Ella that is just on one! Well I was. And so I skipped all the way home just laughing and having the time of my life. Then we got back to west campus after the 45 minute walk through Provo (a dream come true!) and had a meeting with our branch presidency. We discussed what has been hardest for us and I again thought of my internal struggle-how to conduct myself. I decided to refrain from talking and counsel with the Lord first. So when I got home I opened a letter I had gotten from Matt Balkman. Luckily I had taken the advice of one of our teachers to wait and read letters at night so we aren't distracted. I sat down on our couch and opened the letter. Pulled out a card with a picture of zebras on it that said "CONFORMITY. When people have the ability to choose for themselves, they copy each other." I continued to read and Matt told me to just be me. I, Ella Rae, was called by God. I have been given my talents and personality and uniqueness for a reason and I need to use it. Yes I will be obedient, but I need to be myself. That was a MIRACLE. Thank you Matt for listening to your inspired prompting to send me that thoughtful card and gift. It was a true answer to prayer.

I am so grateful for the gospel and everything I am learning here. The Book of Mormon is true. If you haven't sincerely read it in a long time or ever at all, I invite you to do so. The promise made in Moroni 10:3-5 is real. I have experimented on the words and have received a great witness of the truth and power of this book. Pray and read with sincerity and desire. I can promise you if you take the leap of faith to experiment on the words, you will not fall.  

With All My Love,

Sister Ella Rae Madsen