So, I seriously have no words.... I am dumbfounded. But also super excited. Soon we will have another Madsen in the family. I will likely be thinking about how crazy this is for days. (This is in response to Kolby's and Hannah’s engagement.)
So I am serving in Horn Lake, Mississippi. It's funny because all the letters were asking.."How's Arkansas?" Here's the answer. Well from what I saw it looked nice, the airport was small. I hear it's kinda ghetto, but that may just be some bias because I have mostly just talked to the people "on the other side" (the river divides the sides).
 |
| The first door I knocked...they were there, but didn't answer :( |
We went to a lesson my very first day, and I pretty much just said "hola" and bore my testimony in broken Spanish. I haven't been forced to use it too much because my companion is fluent. She is from Idaho and both her parents spoke Spanish in the home growing up. She is amazing, very patient, which I need.
We have an few investigators, and one who is supposed to be getting baptized this weekend... although we are trying not to get our hopes up because he isn't 100% on the date, he says he wants to know more. I can tell that this is going to be a common hinder for baptisms out here.
This week we were visiting an investigator and she didn't answer. As we were leaving, I kept thinking that we needed to go back to that neighborhood. But I remember only seeing white and black people, no latinos so it was weird that I felt that way. But I told Hermana Ponce and she said that we need to always follow our promptings. So the next day when we went back, she remembered a few referrals that we had gotten for that area. We visited both, and although they sounded very uninterested to me, they said that "now isn't a good time." I've learned that means "try harder" to missionaries, so we will be revisiting them whether they like it or not. There are so many things that happened that I don't have time to tell you everything, but this is a good place.
I think I realized why my blessing when I was set apart as a missionary said what it did about Joseph Smith. I feel like him. There are so many churches here and and everybody has bumper stickers and decorations. I feel like the south is stuck in 1820 with all the "excitement about religion" just with cars and gas stations. We hope to get a baptism this week but we will see. I'll let you know next week. The south is great, and hot, but everyone says it's been strangely cold, so I am nervous for the real heat.
Love you! Congratulations Kolby and Hannah! And will you get me Sidney's email? Oh and Kolby, do those family names I left! There might be more in my temple bag, por favor!
Love you,
Hermana Madsen
Semana Loca (May 18, 2015)
Eventful Week (June 1, 2015)
