Fletcher Madsen formerly in Africa

  Oi pessoal! I know it isn't quite Christmas, but it's almost here. It's so crazy that it's already my second Christmas  as a missionary! Time has flown by, although I'll admit it doesn't always feel like that. Christmas is probably my favorite time of year, being with family and friends, and focusing on Jesus Christ and serving others as he would. This Christmas is different for me, because it actually feels like Christmas! Angolan summers happen during this time of year, so shoveling snow for people feels new and amazing. I'm lucky to be around so many amazing missionaries and other people who show me how we can follow Christ's example to serve others. My companion, Elder Thompson, has been trying to reach out to his family with messages of the gospel, and is always ready to serve anyone.    Since it's snowed a few times, we decided to use our sled a bit. Elder Thompson used a shovel to make a ramp on a hill near our apartment. Somehow, I ...

  Oi gente! Sorry, it's been a while, one day I'll get better at doing these things weekly. Elder Jex finished his 2 year mission, so I had to finally say goodbye to him and let him go back to Arizona. I'll definitely miss that guy, I don't think his family is ready for just how much his appetite has increased the last 2 years.   Well, I'm still in Castle Rock! I've been in this zone(larger area of Castle rock) for longer than any other missionary here, it's really weird being an older missionary, I'm used to having companions that have all been out on the mission longer than me. My new companion, Elder Thompson, has only been a missionary for a few months, but he's an absolute rockstar, willing to work hard and be an example even when things get rough. He's from Saint George Utah, surprisingly, he's my very first companion from Utah.  Even though I'm still in the Castle Rock ward, we also got another area, Crystal Valley. Covering two wa...

Oi pessoal! It’s beginning to look  a lot like Christmas  Snowed 6 inches  It's been a bit, so I'll try and condense everything.  Some miracles we've seen: Elder Jex and I received a few referrals that we were able to teach. We taught Raul about Jesus Christ and his sacrifice for us and were able to give him a Book of Mormon,  Another Testament of Jesus Christ,  to read. Sadly, he doesn't live in our area, but we were able to pass him on to some other Elders to continue teaching about the gospel of Jesus Christ. Another person that we were able to teach is Ted. Besides Ted's normal job, he also volunteers a lot and teaches others about the Declaration of Independence, the constitution, and other founding documents of this great country. He has been taught by missionaries for some time and already knows a lot. We had a wonderful time teaching him and being taught by him as well. It's been a long time since my last government class, so talking with him wa...

The last few weeks have been pretty crazy. I thought Virginia weather was crazy but it's nothing compared to Colorado. One day warm and sunny, the next morning a blizzard. Ok, blizzard might be a stretch, but I didn't expect to be walking around in 5+ inches of snow before Halloween. For some reason we have a sled in our apartment, so we went to a little hill nearby and made the most of the snow, since it'll all probably melt in a few days.  I'm still in Castle Rock with Elder Jex, so he'll be my companion until he goes home. I've never had a companion of mine be at the end of their mission, so this should be fun. Elder Jex has served a great almost 2 years, I'm glad I get to keep serving with him for the next while. We've still been able to do service, although we can only enter people's homes for a short amount of time. One lady we moved was a neighbor of a member of our church. I've never been so nervous during a move. We moved tons of paintin...

Oi gente!    Sorry this email is later in the week than usual, but I just wanted to remind you all that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints General Conference will be this Saturday and Sunday!   At General Conference, we are privileged to hear from the leaders of the Church, we are able to hear from a prophet on earth, Russel M Nelson, God's mouthpiece to speak to us. Being able to hear the revelation and counsel from prophets and apostles is one of the best things about General Conference.  I love hearing the wonderful messages of the gospel and Jesus Christ, and having the opportunity to refocus my life  on what really matters most.   Amos 3:7 Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets. Besides preparing for General Conference, Elder Jex and I have continued doing lots of service. We're now doing more on Facebook, so if you want to see some inspiring spiritual messages or ask questions to mi...

Oi pessoal! Transfers happened again, and I lucked out, so I'll be staying here in Castle Rock a little bit longer. Sadly, Elder Armstrong was transferred, all the way down to th e bottom of our mission  boundaries in Raton, New Mexico. My new companion, Elder Jex, was in that area before coming here, so I'm sure he'll be glad for the change. Elder Jex is from Arizona and has 5 sisters. The weather here had been pretty crazy. Lots of smoke because of fires so we don't go outside all that often. For a few days though, the temperatures dropped from 80s to 30s and we got a little bit of snow. Another missionary dropped off a sled at our place, so we were able to sled ok a hill near our apartment for a little bit. Neither of us thought to bring gloves, so after crashing a few times, we decided that frostbite wasn't worth it, so we went back inside. Thankfully we got almost all the wipeouts on camera, you're welcome. I love the members in our ward so much. For ...

Oi pessoal!  If any of you are wondering what's happening with me, don't worry, I'm alright, mostly. It's been long enough that my sprained wrist that I haven't mentioned yet is practically healed. If you know me it shouldn't be a surprise that I'd be the one to get hurt while playing whiffle ball, but hopefully that makes you laugh at least. As far as service goes, we've been able to help a lot more people in our church as well as those in our neighborhood. Sadly, I haven't been able to help as much due to my wrist, so I became the photographer. Although with most services I ended up just being the comic relief, whatever I can do to help I will do. One of my favorite services was when a lady asked us to demolish her wooden playground set in her backyard. It's not often you get to destroy things as a missionary, so we had fun with it. Seeing others become more willing to let us serve them has been amazing. Oftentimes we don't like others he...

Oi gente! I know it's been a while since I've sent an email, but don't worry, I'm doing fine.  With quarantine still going on, we haven't been able to do much(not even playing basketball at the church buildings sadly), but things have opened up enough so that we can do service. We help out at a food bank, and have been able to help members in our ward move in, and were able to help an older lady paint her backyard deck. I'm definitely a much better mover than painter, but it's an awesome feeling to be able to help out anyway we can. One day, we were doing service for a member of the church in our ward, helping him clean up a trail on his property, when we saw a rattlesnake. I don't know how big those things are supposed to be, but this one was about 3 feet long and sounded angry. The member had a shovel so he was able to cut off the snake's head. Even though the head was cut off, the snake's body kept moving for more than half an hour afterwards...