Gratidao e comida!
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| Picture with Elder Holland from last week |
In honor of this
week being thanksgiving (for you all at least), I thought I'd focus on some
things I'm thankful for and the many blessings I've had serving my mission.
First: Food! I did not think I was going to eat a
whole lot here, but boy have the members been amazing. Elder Lima and I have
eaten cake 9 out of the last 10 days, sometimes more than once a day! We almost
always have lunch at a member’s house. Here lunch is the biggest meal of
the day, so we eat a lot with the members and then don't need to eat dinner,
which is pretty cool, because it means more time to teach lessons. Crazy story
with food, one lunch after we were done I asked the other Missionaries what
kind of meat we just ate, and they told me it was dog! At least I found out
after the fact instead of before. I apologize to any of you dog lovers out
there.
The people: It's still hard for me to believe how
many people talk to US about our church and not the other way around. Elder
Lima and I have been teaching so many new people, it's hard to keep track. 5 of
those we are teaching went to church this week, but 6 people came to church
that we haven't even taught! That was a huge miracle, lots of miracles actually.
Hopefully we'll be able to teach them all this week. I'm super tired and sweaty
24,7 because of all the walking in the hot sun of Africa we do, but it's so
worth it to be able to teach all these people. 
I'm also so thankful to be an
American. Growing up I definitely took a lot
of freedoms and blessings for granted. We in the United States are blessed in
so many ways. Even though I'm in an area that has rich parts, a lot of people
here have next to nothing, yet always have a smile on their face. I've been
able to see that we can find true happiness in the gospel of Jesus Christ and
in our families, not just in what we have or what we wear.
Other things: A few ladies have asked Elder Lima
and I to marry them, which is kind of nuts. I think me being American is exotic
to some people, but the kids still think I'm Chinese. ("Chee-nays!")
Most people don't know where I'm from, so getting them to guess is always
pretty funny. I've gotten brazil, turkey, and Russia a lot. Also, everyone
thinks I'm older than I am, so I'll take it as a compliment.
A crazy thing: I
saw a guy in a wheelchair rolling along down a main road! Hopefully he didn't
get hurt, everyone here is a bunch of daredevils, I've also seen a lot of kids
hanging from tree branches 20 feet off the ground just for fun.
Also: we lost power
today, so that was fun. We played basketball in the morning for the first time,
so I was super ready for a shower, and then no water! It's just one day and I'm
very blessed, but the power picked the worst time possible to go out.
Elder Lima and I have
been so blessed these last few weeks. One awesome experience: we were trying to find where one of
these people we haven't taught yet but came to church lives. It's difficult
because no one has addressed here. While we were walking, she saw us and called
out to us from the other side of the street! We found her house and her dad was
home, so we were able to teach him about the restoration of the gospel of Jesus
Christ and the Book of Mormon, another Testament of Jesus Christ, and give him
a Book of Mormon for himself. He goes to another church but wants us to teach
him and his family more and wants to read the Book of Mormon and learn more
about our church. Elder Lima and I have been having a ton of experiences like
this, where we go to teach an investigator or a member because we felt we
should, and then we are able to teach their friends or other family members
there. 
A hymn we sing in church
is called: Count Your Many Blessings. It's been difficult to count all the blessings Elder Lima
and I have seen. I know that focusing on gratitude brings so much more
happiness into our lives as we are able to change our perspective and focus on
all the good around us. I have been immensely blessed here already, lots
of things to be thankful for. This Thanksgiving I challenge you all
to focus on the blessings you have in your lives. Focusing my prayers
on things I am thankful for has brought me so much more peace
and happiness, and I know we can all experience this gratitude as we look
for all the wonderful things we are able to experience in this life.
Eu amo Voces! Ate mais!
Elder Madsen
Gratitude:
We should thank our Heavenly Father for His goodness to us by
acknowledging His hand in all things, thanking Him for all that He gives us,
keeping His commandments, and serving others. We should especially thank Him
for His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, for the Savior’s great example, for His
teachings, for His outreaching hand to lift and help, for His infinite
Atonement.
Videos
Old Testament
3 Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Book of Mormon
19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king,
who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God,
do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your
heavenly King!
20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you
should render all the thanks and praise which
your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has
kept and preserved you,
and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has
granted that ye should live in peace one with another—
21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning,
and is preserving you from day to day, by lending
you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to
your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to
another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.
22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his
commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if
ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.
Book of Mormon
38 That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that
ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to
the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in
spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily,
for the many mercies and
blessings which he doth bestow upon you.
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