Lo más importante

This week was our last zone conference with President Hansen.  We are getting a new president this week! It is really sad but I am happy for them that they get to go back and live their lives with their family.  The most important things I learned from zone conference and from the week is how important it is to have a good relationship with your companion, and to always trust the Lord Jesus Christ.

When a companionship is not working in unity, there isn't the spirit and there isn't success.  No matter how much two people try to be good missionaries, they can't do it alone.  In the mission you NEED a companion to back you up.

Then when you have unity, or when you don't, you can ALWAYS look to Christ for help.  Christ is the only constant in all the craziness of the world.  For example I am out here in a completely different world.  The culture is different, the people, the language, habits, smells, food, buildings, cars, streets, furniture... EVERYTHING is different from my home.  The only thing that is the same is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He is the constant throughout all the world, in every country, in every life. It is the constant truth.  I know He lives and that He understands us.  I will never doubt the reality of His Atonement because I have seen it work too many times in my life to even think it is false.  I love my savior and I know He loves every single one of you, He loves me, and He loves everyone I meet here.




{Obviously Miranda's handiwork =) }

Fun Facts:

- So I lied about Bolivia being the only country without ocean... Paraguay doesn't have ocean either. But nobody really talks about them...

- You know when you are sitting down in sacrament meeting and you have a perfect view of the pulpit and then a giraffe comes and sits down in front of you? Yeah, I don't have that problem. I am the giraffe!



Don't count the days, make the days count!

~Hermana Madsen

¡Necesitamos ayuda!

{We need help!}







This week was packed!  We had so many appointments planned!  Of course the majority of them weren't home or failed us, but that put us in the right place at the right time to meet some of God's chosen children.  That is something I learned in our district meeting, that really we plan according to where we need to be, where we can find the people ready for the gospel. 

But I learned how true that was when my companion applied it.  When we arrived at empty houses, she thought of how we could contact people in that area.  She is really awesome.  I am learning so much from her!

So just so all of you know, this work is not easy. But I find new reasons everyday to be out here. We finally got a copy of all the conference talks from April so I was reading David A. Bednar's talk from priesthood session about missionaries.  I love that he said we are called to the work, not to a place.  Yes, there are certain people waiting specifically for each missionary, who need something they have.  This week I wasn't feeling like I was making much of a difference here, like anyone could do what I was doing.  Then I realized that anyone really could do what I was doing, but I have the privilege to do it. I could be serving in other areas, but I am here.  I am called to open my mouth at all times and in all places.  Wherever I am placed, God just wants me to invite everyone to come unto Christ.  But not only am I called to do this on the mission, but forever.  

As members we made a covenant to stand as witnesses at ALL TIMES.  I only hope I can have the same motivation to be a representative of Christ when I get home.  I know it is not going to be super easy, and I know it isn't easy for all of you right now, but I also know that God doesn't ask impossible things of us.

So stand up as a witness of Him this week.  Whatever that means to you =)

Fun Facts:

- The street venders walk onto busses and into restaurants to sell their product.

- When people give their phone numbers, they say it in 10's. Ex: if the phone number was 87228173 they would say it 87, 22, 81, 73.

Don't count the days, make the days count!

~Hermana Madsen

Un día en la misión

{A day in the mission}

{I think it's important here to say that Miranda doesn't put together this blog.  She writes on Monday, then tries during the week to send us pictures from her wifi camera if she's at the church with a good internet connection.  So we get her pictures sometimes 3 days, 5 days or more than a week after she writes.  So they are way back-dated, and they have nothing to do with the words in between them.  Since today's post is chronological, it almost looks like these are supposed to be the pictures of her "day as a missionary" but no.  The pictures are usually more of the zone activities on Mondays, and way before she writes her letter.  Ok, carry on.}

So I realized that a lot of people, even members, don't really know a lot about what happens in the life of a missionary. So here is a typical detailed day I live out here in Bolivia.

I wake up at 6:30 AM, and it is extremely important to me to not sleep longer.  I say a prayer that usually doesn't make sense because I am still half asleep.  Then I exercise for a half hour, and right now it is FREEZING in the morning so it's hard to exercise, but so worth it once I warm up.  Then my companion and I get ready for the day while we listen and sing to David Archuleta, Pentatonix, etc.

Then comes daily planning and studies.  I actually love this part of the day because I would not rather do anything in the world.  I love reading the scriptures, receiving special revelations for our investigators and for my life, and feeling the spirit every moment.  Typically I do studies all bundled up in lots of layers because it is still super cold and they don't have heating in the houses here.

For breakfast here I absolutely LOVE fried eggs and some fruit... and occasionally hot chocolate=)

After studies we leave basically right to lunch.  We either walk or take the micro, or bus, to our pensión where we eat with a member family. They are super amazing, and the food is pretty good even though it is usually rice, potatoes, and chicken.  I think I am going to be sick of these things by the end, but right now it's still pretty good! 

We also always start out with a soup and then comes the second plate... Lots of food! At the end of meals they always thank everyone at the table, like some families thank every single person individually! Then everyone responds with "Provecho" which means provided... doesn't make sense in english, but something cool and different they do here!






{zone activity}

The rest of the day we are walking from place to place and visiting investigators, and finding new people to teach.  It is super super scary to start talking to random people, but honestly I found that you just need to do it.  It is really nice to have a companion because when you run out of words, you can just turn to your companion and they have to open their mouth and continue.  And really when we have the spirit with us we are able to open our mouths and the words just come.  We also have to be careful which roads we take, not because of the people, but because the dogs are vicious here! It's scary sometimes!

The appointments we have here usually fail us because of what is called "Bolivian Time."  This means that everything starts a half hour after they say it will. And when they say they will be in their house it means that the past week they were in their house at that hour, not necessarily that they will be again...

But really it is okay because it is part of their culture that I have had to get used to. And it gives us the opportunity to go meet new people!  As long as we are doing our part, the Lord blesses us!

At nighttime we get back to our house, call our district leader to let him know we are safely in our house, and eat a little snack before bed.  Our dinner is usually only a snack because we eat so much during the day.

We pray a lot during the day, and we always end the day thanking Heavenly Father for the success we had.  We ask blessings for all the people here who need it, for the progress of our investigators, for the safety and well-being of our families, and for our personal progress here in the mission.






{Ok, check out the grapes, cereal, raisins, along with all the yummy stuff & icecream on these bananas.  Just don't even know what to think.  =) }

I have learned so much about myself this week and I am loving it more and feeling like a real missionary more each day!

Fun facts:

- When the people here talk and run out of breath during a sentence, they continue talking while inhaling, like their gasping for air.

- Here they write the date DD/MM/YYYY for example todays date is 12/06/2017







Don't count the days, make the days count!

~Hermana Madsen

Llegar a ser una misionera de éxito

{To strive to be a successful missionary}









This week was a mess, yet it was so effective.  Hermana Howell flew back to Cochabamba for a day and a half to do all the paper work for her visa.  So I was tossed around from companionship to companionship while she was gone.  It was super fun because I got to know a lot more of Sucre! 

At that point in the week we had 2 new investigators which is good, but we had lost a lot of appointments with potentials when she traveled.  But when she got back we started working harder than ever.  We contacted like crazy, and we visited people from the early hours in the morning to the last minute we could at night.  That is what missionary work is.  I understand now better what it feels like to have my mind completely in the mission.  

On Saturday we started out the day visiting a family way out in the field areas of our area and their older brother was at their house and invited us to come to his house after.  So we went and talked with him and his wife who are super nice and I have a lot of hope for them.  We were in the right place at the right time to find them.  Then we ran to the church to attend a baptism of our pensionista's daughter Wendy.  We sang a special musical number because my companion is a super good singer.  And when Wendy was in the bathroom changing, we were able to teach the plan of salvation because there were a few non-members visiting. Then we helped pass out cake and clean up at the party afterwards. 

Let me tell you that Latin parties are super big and truly different from any party I've been to! The entire ward was there and there were souvenirs and food and a piñata with treasures for everyone there. The rest of the day was super successful and when I got home I was exhausted.  I can honestly say I gave my ALL that day =)  That is what I call a successful missionary.  Through our work this week we found 8 new investigators.  I am proud of that number not because I found them, but because we really listened to the spirit this week and followed the promptings we had when these people were placed right in our path. 

I realized this week how important missionaries are in the lives of the people here.  They really are so grateful for the messages we bring because some of them don't have the opportunity to hear it from anywhere else.  Lots of people this week in sacrament meeting mentioned the missionaries that found them when they needed the gospel the most.  I want to be that missionary who listens to the spirit to find and help those people.  I want to be the Lord's missionary=)

I love it out here more each day!

Fun Facts:

- Bolivia is the only country in South America without ocean, so they have Día del Mar to protest for a part of land with ocean!

- Since Latin culture has lunch as their big meal, we fast from lunchtime to lunchtime here instead of dinner to dinner. 

{Hermana Howell, her new companera}

Don't count the days, make the days count!

~Hermana Madsen