Fletcher Madsen formerly in Africa

 Oi pessoal! Sorry it's been so long. We usually go over to the other Elders apartment and have some fun on pdays, so I've been pretty bad about writing emails, but I'll be better, I only have a few more to write anyway.  Pueblo has been awesome, the other missionaries I'm serving with and I have really become a band of brothers. It's awesome being able to joke and laugh with these Elders, and to also be able to help each other focus on the most important things in life, and help others find those things as well. The area I'm in is pretty small, we share the area with 2 other Elders. They have a much bigger portion, so they have the car, but even with the small population, we've been able to find some really cool people to teach. Sometimes as a missionary, it may feel as though everyone wants to tell you their problems, but the more I learn, the more I just want to share God's love for these people. Knowing that we have a Father in Heaven who has a plan ...

  Sorry for the delay in sending out Fletcher’s email. Goat in the kitchen Oi gente! Sorry it's been so long, I need to get back in the habit of writing these every week, I don't have a lot of them left.  I was sad to leave the valley, but Pueblo has been awesome. My new companion is Elder Egbert, and surprise surprise, he's also from Saint George Utah! That's now 3 out of my last 4 companions that have been from there. I keep managing to be companions with all the tall Elders in the mission, but it makes basketball more fun, even if I'll still be the short one.  There's lots to do in Pueblo! There are so many wonderful people here, also a bunch of interesting people, but that just makes it even more fun to talk to the people of Pueblo. We're teaching a few awesome people. Sam if one of them, I was able to help him set a date for baptism when I first got here, and he's very committed to preparing himself to be baptized. Hearing the heartfelt prayers from...

  Oi pessoal!  Yes, I'm leaving La Jara already. I definitely didn't expect that after being in Castle Rock for so long. I'll miss Elder Anderson and Elder Dunn a lot, but I know they'll continue doing great things. Everyone in the Valley was super nice, I'll miss all those friendly faces.    Here's a miracle we had right before I left: one day at church we saw a man that we hadn't seen at church ever before, we talked to him and found out that he and his wife were coming back to church, and wanted us to teach their 9 year old son named Zabien. Finding people to teach in La Jara doesn't happen often, so we were excited! We got Zabien a Children's storybook Book of Mormon (one with lots of pictures and not as many words) and went to their house to teach them. It turns out, we're their neighbors! So only about a 20 second walk away, who would've thought? Sadly, I won't be around to see Zabien get baptized, but I'm really happy I was a...

  Link to pictures and videos of our visit to Zapata frozen water fall https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1oMpMjSd25Fk2LaRTsUYS5pGHpm0BGzTk?usp=sharing Oi gente!   I'll be quick with this one. Even in the Valley where most people are members, there's still things to do. We're trying to teach the people we play basketball with, which is an absolute blast. I think I've gained enough of their respect, because when I asked if we could share a message, they all started kneeling for a prayer, which wasn't necessary at the moment, but I definitely appreciate it.  You may be wondering why this email has this title. Well, for pday, we went with the other Elders in our district to Zapata falls, a frozen waterfall in our area. We got some awesome pictures and found a patch of ice to "surf" on. Of course, I was the one to wipe out the worst, so hopefully you can see the video of it and get a good laugh. Even though I fell on snow covered ice, I didn't ...

  Oi pessoal!   Being in La Jara has been pretty great. Elder Anderson and Elder Dunn are awesome, we've already become great friends, even though being in a trio is a bit different. The members here are amazing, sadly we can't help them out with a lot of things because of the weather, but you can bet as soon as they start working in their fields again, we'll be right there with them.   We've still had a few opportunities to do service here and there. One morning, our Bishop invited us to help move someone's heavy furniture into a storage unit. I managed to mess up my back, so I was really missing not having a nearby chiropractor like we did in Castle Rock, but I survived. It was still so worth it to help an old man that couldn't lift those things himself. That Bishop also told us about some service he and his family were planning on doing for a nonmember neighbor of those, but he said if we beat him to it that'd be ok. We went the next day in servic...