December 17, 2012 Letter

Coleman and Elder K at the temple on Friday

Well I'm finally writing to y'all!   Hope everything is going well for all my family and friends. We've had a good two weeks in Greenville Alabama. As those of you who follow the mission blog can tell, we've had a lot of meetings/activities this month. We had the opportunity to go to the temple last Friday, which was really nice! We (Elder Kelley and I) are busy gearing up for a Greenville Branch Christmas Social that we'll be having on Wednesday. We'll have a dinner and a program with music - I was able to get the mission violin on Friday for it. [By the way I did give the Holzapfels fudge at the luncheon].   Not a whole lot of new investigators in the last week. We've met a lot of different people, but not a lot of them were really interested in what we had to say. S--- came to church on Sunday and we're still teaching her. Unfortunately, nobody else came! I was expecting way more people than that. We were hoping that B--- and A--- (and A---'s kids) would be there as well. We've tried to see a lot of less actives this week, which has been hard since we are  out of miles (on our car) for the month because of all the Birmingham & Montgomery trips. On Saturday with President N-- we went out to a disabled member's house and rebuilt a wheelchair ramp for him.   We had exchanges last week with our zone leaders. Elder Sawyer (from Pete and Laura's ward) spent a day with Elder Kelley and me. He's a great missionary and we all had a good time. He helped us brainstorm finding ideas and ways we can be more effective in the area. (He decorated the gingerbread man in the picture with a bite in its head.)   I wanted to take a minute to thank family and friends for the packages, letters and Christmas cards. I keep and treasure them all, and it's feels good to know that people are thinking about me and praying for me.   Greenville (as you have undoubtedly deduced from my letters) has proved to be a pretty slow area. It's pretty small and people aren't that interested in listening to us. Sometimes we are frustrated (I'd be lying if I said that we were always perfectly happy) but overall we are satisfied with the work we are accomplishing here. It will take time to make this branch here a thriving branch, but we're doing it one step at a time, trying to lengthen our stride every day.   I love you all. Thank you for your prayers. I hope that you all are having (and will continue to have) a great holiday season.   Love Elder Madsen Thanks Jeff and Lisa for the cookies! Enjoying the cookies self photo, I'm guessing!! On the way to the temple

December 10, 2012 Letter

December 12, 2012 

*all photos courtesy of President Holzapfel's Mission Blog


Coleman kept having server problem this morning, so his full letter will come snail mail.


December 10th, 2012

It seems that the server is working now.

Hope everything is well. I'll still send another letter this week.

It has been a good week this week. Not a lot of people found or lessons taught, but still a good week. It was great being able to go up to the mission home for the Holiday Luncheon, even if it's 3 hours away.

We've really been trying to work with less-actives lately. The Greenville Branch is unique in that there are probably 60-70 people on the roster but there is only 1 active family.

Your Son/Brother

Elder Coleman Madsen

Sis. Dunbar, Elder Kelley (comp), Coleman, Elder Cusick, Elder Kaupert (1st comp)

Coleman and Elder Dalo

Playing Away in A Manger at the Christmas Luncheon

December 3, 2012 Letter

Hello Family and Friends!

 

Its been a great week in Greenville! I hope that you all are doing well! The work moves forward!

 

Christmas has arrived here in Greenville Alabama. The city has put up a lot of pretty lights and decorations around the downtown. The culture is very different different here - very few people have lights and decorations on their houses. The Christmas music that they play in stores is really different - pretty much all country and soul.

 

I forgot to tell you last week that I have a new district. Elder Kaupert is still my district leader but now we have 12 (instead of 4) people in our district. The district is us and Highland Home, and now all the missionaries in the two Montgomery Wards. We have Elder and Sister Aston, the new senior couple who replaced Elder and Sister Blau as Military Relations missionaries. They started their mission just three weeks ago. We have sisters in Montgomery now and their names are Sister Kim and Sister Wilson. Sister Kim is from Korea and has been working with the Koreans here in the Montgomery area, where there are a lot of Hyundai car plants (which are owned by Koreans). Elder Crockett and Elder Smidtley are the Spanish Elders for the Montgomery Zone. Elder Banks (Oklahoma) and Elder Hardman (Twin Falls) are serving as the Elders for both the Capital and Carter Hill wards in Montgomery. The transfer before I got out here they had three sets of english elders in Montgomery and until now they've had two, but Elder Banks and Hardman have been really effective in their area and are covering all that territory on their own now (they've had a lot of baptisms). Elder Kaupert and Elder Cusick are still in Highland Home, and then there is us.

 

Not a lot of new investigators to talk about right now. We're still teaching D-- and S-- and V-- and B--. We've tracted half the city of Greenville (you think I'm joking - I'm totally serious) and we are starting to change focus a little bit. We feel that working with less actives more would be an important use of time. It's something that President Nimmer (Stake President) encouraged us to do from the beginning, but I guess we didn't take the less-active work super seriously. There is a lot of potential for convert baptisms with less active and part-member families.

 

I'm running out of time (as usual) but will email more next week. I thank you all for your letters and packages, and especially your prayers. They are needed, and they are appreciated.

 

Christmas is here, and what better gift is there to give than the Gospel of Jesus Christ? I am grateful for this opportunity I have to spend the holidays here in Alabama teaching the gospel. I miss you all, but I am happy!

 

Love,

 

Elder Coleman Madsen

from Susan - Coleman wanted me to mention that Elder Christofferson will be visiting their mission in February.  A General Authority visits only once every three years, so the missionaries are very excited to have him come.

November 26, 2012 Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Hope all is well! Sorry I wasn't able to email y'all last week!

 

We had a good Thanksgiving last week. President Nimmer invited us over to eat Thanksgiving with his family. I missed being home though! We also were fed at the Gulley's house (members in the branch). It seems weird that its Christmas season now! Greenville isn't that decked out, but maybe that's just cause its still November.

 

We had two investigators attend church today. D-- and S-- are 19 and we met them on Saturday. They seemed to enjoy church and are planning on coming back. We've been able to teach lessons to other investigators, but its hard to actually get people to keep commitments in this area.People will listen to us talk, but they don't want to do much more than that.

 

We were able to re-establish contact with our former investigator A-- last week. We went over on Saturday and she invited us over for dinner with her family that night. It was kind of a belated-Thanksgiving dinner thing. It was good to be able to see and talk to her again.

 

The weather has been super up-and-down lately. Last night when we were finishing up it was 34 degrees outside, and right now its 75! Alabama weather is kind of different.

 

Our Stake (the Montgomery Stake) has their giant Christmas activity this week. Every year, the saints here put on an "Inter-faith Nativity" where people from all over the region bring different nativity sets and have them on display. They also have music programs going on. Its Wednesday to Sunday from 1-8 each day. It's a lot of time and effort, but its a great opportunity to expose other people to the church. Supposedly a lot of non-LDS are involved in it.

 

We will have an opportunity to go to the temple again in a couple weeks. We'll also be invited to the mission home for a holiday luncheon with the mission president and his wife.

 

Things are going well! Love you all!

November 19, 2012 Letter

Dear Family and Friends,

 

Well, the big news is that we (Elder Kelley and I) are staying in Greenville for another transfer. This transfer will include Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the new year. Our next transfer will be on Jan. 2nd 2013. I am excited for this opportunity to stay and to work with the people here. I know that we will have a baptism in the next 6 weeks!

 

I will send my letter via snail mail this week. Hope things are going well. I saw pictures this morning of the Boise Temple Dedication and Cultural Celebration. I am so happy!

 

Love,

Elder Madsen

 

November 13, 2012 letter

Coleman playing at the Zone Conference

Happy Early Birthday Mom!

Family and Friends,

Sorry I wasn't able to write yesterday! The public library was closed due to Veteran's Day.

As you've probably seen on the mission blog, we had a Zone Conference last Thursday. This is actually the first Zone Conference I've ever had (not including the multi-zone conference in August. It went really well. The musical numbers I organized turned out. It's hard putting three different numbers together in 20 minutes, but we sang some easier hymns and luckily we have some singers in our zone.

Even though I don't (or at least shouldn't) follow politics on my mission, I couldn't help overhearing the outcome of the presidential election last Tuesday. Tuesday night we were teaching a lesson at an investigator's house, and when we left Florida was tied up with 75% of the votes counted. I was more than slightly disappointed with the outcome, but I have faith that God let happen what needed to happen. I think it's just important that we fast and pray for our leaders, regardless of their party affiliation. We live in turbulent times today, and our leaders need all the prayers they can get. [Did the education measures pass?]

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but as part of my personal study each morning I've been reading 30 minutes of the Book of Mormon. I started a little bit before I got transferred here, and I'm now about half-way through Alma. I think there's something special about reading the Book of Mormon cover-to-cover that you don't get just studying chapters or verses from it. I feel that when you read it in its entirety you really improve your understanding of how it fits together. I've really been enjoying my personal studies lately, especially reading about the Book of Mormon missionaries (Alma, Amulek, Sons of Mosiah etc.).

It has been another kind of slow week. We've done a lot of tracting and have a few new investigators, though none who are really interested in what we have to say (at least yet). We went to Fort Deposit for the first time yesterday, and tracted a little up there. We are still teaching Patrick, although he hasn't progressed very much this week. We've done a lot of service the last few days for a family (members), helping them clean up their house to be inspected later this month. They hope to move into an apartment soon. 

We do have a lot of investigators right now, just not a whole lot who are really motivated to really pray and find out if what we say is true. Some feel the spirit, and feel that what we are saying is true, but we just have got to get them to act on what they feel. The work sometimes is frustrating when people don't keep commitments, but it's still a great work and its great to be a part of it.

I am excited for the Boise Temple re-dedication this week, even though I won't be there for it. I hope that all of the members there have an opportunity to see it.

I love you all!

Elder Coleman Madsen

photos courtesy of Mission President's Blog:

Coleman and another missionary practice discussion techniques

November 5, 2012 Letter

Hello Family and Friends!   We've had a great and amazing week here in Greenville. The work has finally started to move at a faster pace here in this area! Thank you for your prayers!   We had a zone meeting last Friday where they started training us with some very new tracting techniques that have worked in specific missions that we are trying out here. Very different stuff. We are trying to modify tracting approaches so we find those who are prepared, and don't spend a whole lot of time for those who are not interested in our message. A lot of new stuff coming I think.   This announcement about the new mission ages is affecting our mission a lot, as it is the missions throughout the world. President Holzapfel this morning told us that he has been told that in one year the Alabama Birmingham Mission is projected to have 250 missionaries (we have around 160 right now I think). There will also be modification of mission boundaries throughout the world to accomodate the new missionaries.   A bishop from one of the Montgomery wards sent us a referral a few weeks ago that we finally were able to contact. His name is Mark and is probably in his 50's. We had about a two-hour long lesson/discussion with him about the church, and it was amazing to see how prepared he was. He knows a lot of members who have set positive examples for him and his respect for the church was evidenced throughout our meeting with him. He has some health problems and wasn't able to come to church yesterday, but we are excited to continue to teach him and his family.   We also have a new investigator named Patrick, who is living and breathing evidence thatmormon.org cards work. He was probably one of about 200 people we've given mormon.org cards to on the street, but he actually got on the website and was intrigued by what he saw. Amazingly enough, right as he was looking it up his doorbell rang and, lo and behold, there we were tracting at his front door. We've had a couple great lessons with him.  He came to church yesterday and was really impressed by what he saw and felt.   Yesterday we were tracting with the new tracting techniques and met a Hawaiian woman who actually is an inactive member of the church. She wasn't on the records or anything, and hasn't gone to church since she left home probably ten or so years ago. We were able to teach her and her family and hope to get them out to church.Her fiancee and 8-year old daughter haven't been baptized.   We have a zone conference this coming Thursday. By the way Zone Conferences are different than Zone Meetings. Zone Meetings are monthly and are done by the zone leaders, while zone conferences happen less often and are done by President Holzapfel and the assistants. I have to put together a 30-minute musical program for it. Found out this morning. Should be fun.   I went on exchanges Friday with Highland Home and actually got to spend the day in my old area! Got to see a lot of members of the branch there and teach them. Its weird being so close to them but not seeing them ever.   Love and miss yall!   Elder Coleman Madsen

10/29/12 Letter

Hello Family and Friends!

Well, my camera is broken :/ President Nimmer is pretty handy with cameras so I should have it fixed soon, but sadly the hold-up on pictures will have to last another week.

Really not that much to talk about. We have been working really hard here, and have tracted a lot this last week. Our initial baptismal date investigators (Amanda, Crystal and Kim) have sadly all come through, so we are just focusing on building an investigator pool right now. We taught 14 lessons tracting over just two days! (Which for this mission is a lot.) We do have some hopeful prospects. Just keep us in your prayers. I have every confidence in the next week we'll have some new baptismal-date-investigators.

President Holzapfel has been gone in Florida receiving training from some General Authorities, and should be back soon to give us some up-to-date training.

The area (as well as the rest of the nation, I'm sure) has been a-buzz about the upcoming Presidential election. Sadly, I've not received my absentee ballot in the mail. I had it sent to the mission office address and they haven't forwarded it to me. They may be saving it for zone meeting on Friday, but that doesn't leave a whole lot of time for it to get to Idaho in the mail. I may register here and just vote here.

We have some exciting news from Highland Home! Dyana was baptized on Saturday! We sadly weren't able to attend, but Elder Kaupert said it was a really spiritual experience for everyone involved. Elaine (if you remeber her from previous letters) evidently was at the baptismal service, and went to church yesterday as well. Its cool to hear about these investigators I taught progressing!

Well, I'm sadly already out of time for today! Will have a longer letter next week!

Love

Elder Coleman Madsen

October 22, 2012 Letter

Hello Family and Friends!   I'll start off by addressing an issue that every letter I've gotten this week has complained about: Yes I know that I don't take enough pictures. I don't have my camera right now but will have it on Wednesday, so soon I'll be snapping away and yall'll be happy.   Greenville has been ok this week. President Nimmer (branch president) has outlined sort of a game plan for us in the area. We have been working on finding (tracting) but we've also done a lot of contacting of less actives, many who haven't been to church for years and years. 85% of the branch roster is less or in-active individuals. If the less-actives came we would probably have a ward, or at least a much larger branch. A lot of them live pretty far out, but luckily we aren't as stretched for miles as I was in Highland Home so we can afford the trips. We've met a lot of people with a lot of problems, problems that the gospel of Jesus Christ will help solve.   Yesterday we had 22 people attend sacrament meeting, which is pretty high for Greenville. Sadly, none of our investigators were able to make it. Talk about disappointing. We found out after that Dominique actually needed a ride but her phone was dead, and Amanda was having a pretty rough day and didn't come.   We taught Amanda lessons on the Plan of Salvation and the Gospel of Jesus Christ this last week. Those went very well and she is moving towards baptism. It was sad that she wasn't able to make it to church but there is always next time, and we're just gonna keep trying. The first time is the hardest time.   We have some pretty sweet wheels here in Greenville. In Highland Home we were driving a pretty battered Toyota Corolla, but here we've been given a white 2012 Chevy Cruze, and its definitely the nicest car I've ever driven.   Its been hard finding new people to teach this last week. We've tracted around but no one has been interested. The first week we were here it seemed like everything was going for us, but now Greenville has seemed like the dead town it was when Elder Kaupert and I were here part-time. We are faithful though that it will get better.   Sorry there isn't a lot to report on this week. For those who sent me packages this last week thank you! They made my day! I am making a push to respond to my letters today. Sorry that I am not good at doing that!   Love you all!   Elder Coleman Madsen

October 16, 2012 Letter

Hello Family and Friends!   Well, sorry my weekly letter is late this week - our p-day was so crazy we weren't able to write yesterday. Things have been going real well here in Greenville. It has been a really unique experience opening up a new area. The work goes well. We have 10 investigators and 2 with a baptismal date with more on the way today!   My new companion is Elder Kelley. He is a 21-year-old missionary from Detroit, Michigan who was converted to the church when he was eleven. He has been on his mission 16 months now. Elder Kelley is a very hard worker and has a really sociable, down-to-earth personality. It's an honor to be able to serve with him. I will still see Elder Kaupert because he is now my district leader. We have a small district of just Elder Kelley and I and Elder Kaupert and Elder Cusick (the new missionary he is training). We'll have our first district meeting tomorrow.   I will miss my old district. Elder Clanton, my former district leader, is now serving in the Tupelo Mississippi Stake/Zone with Elder Hullinger, one of my MTC companions. Elder Dunn is still serving in the Capitol Ward of Montgomery. Elder and Sister Blau finish their missionary service tomorrow and return home to Centerfield Utah. I will sure miss them, they were great teachers and great examples of effective missionaries to all of us young missionaries in the Alabama Birmingham Mission.   [Mom, you asked about my musical experiences as of late. I played the piano and did a special musical number on the violin for the transfer meeting on Wednesday. All with 2 days notice (no big deal haha). ]   Y'all who follow the mission blog probably saw the pictures from the Montgomery Stake Conference this last weekend. Elder William Walker of the Seventy came and reorganized the stake presidency here with Elder Hymas (an area seventy). Typically missionaries only attend the Sunday Morning Session of Stake Conference, but by Elder Walker's request we came up for the adult session Saturday Evening, which was very focused on missionary work. In that evening session, I was reminded of home when Elder Walker talked about some experiences he had opening up the tours for the renovated Boise Temple. I'm assuming that must have been in the last week or so, the way he was talking about it. President and Sister Holzapfel both spoke at the adult sessions and gave really good talks. I enjoyed being able to see many of the members from Highland Home at both sessions of conference. President Millington, who had been serving as a "transplant" branch president of the Tuskegee Branch, was called as the new stake president. Elder Kaupert and Elder Kelley have served with him and say that he is an amazing individual who goes above and beyond in the call of duty. The stake presidents here in Alabama are very involved in the work.   In Elder Walker's Sunday address he talked about 3 evidences of modern-day revelation today: (1)The giving of Patriarchal Blessings (2)The process of calling full-time missionaries and (3) The process of calling new stake presidents. All three of these things testify that God really does head this work. How could they work so well if they didn't?   I had some new experiences in Montgomery. Because we are about 45 miles away, we spent the night with the Carter Hill Elders and were able to go teach with them Saturday evening. It was a unique experience being the only white Elder with a group of four elders going into "the hood" of Montgomery. Kind of cool though, and I met some good people.   We have a very nice apartment! We have a front room/study with a study table and kitchen table, a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom, and an extra room that could serve as a second bedroom if needed. Our apartment is conveniently located right next to Wal-Mart and Super Foods so its easy to get to the store when needed, and not too far away from town.   We have done a lot of tracting in the last five days. We didn't do very much tracting in Highland Home because it wasn't a very good finding option there, but here it has definitely been working well. Friday we had an amazing lesson with Amanda. We almost didn't stop by her house, but the spirit told us to stop by one more. Funny how that works. She had an open heart and mind and has an earnest desire to be baptized. We've had lots of lessons and a lot of people are coming closer to Jesus Christ. We are going to have a lot of people at church Sunday! We recontacted Dominique, an investigator Elder Kaupert and I tracted into, and committed her to come to church. Greenville as of late has been averaging an attendance of about 15 people. I feel we will soon double that with our new investigators coupled with our work with less-active families. We have probably 4 times as many less actives than actives in this area, and there's so much potential with them! In the next few months, you will see amazing growth in Greenville, I promise you that. I'm so grateful for this opportunity to be here at this significant time in the history of the Greenville Branch.   We anxiously await the arrival of the senior couple, but we don't know exactly when they will come. Last we heard Elder May (the housing coordinator for the mission) was having difficulty finding a place for them to stay. Hopefully they'll be here soon.   Well, love and miss y'all. Hope to hear from ya!   Love, Elder Coleman Madsen Elder Kelley and Elder Madsen Montgomery Stake Conference

October 10, 2012 Transfer Day

A quick update -- Coleman has been assigned to a new area-- the  Greenville Area with a new companion, Elder Kelley.  We look forward to hearing more from him on Monday.

His address is:  102 Chalet Drive, Greenville, AL 36037

October 8, 2012 Letter

Hello Family and Friends!

 

Well, its official, Im being transferred.....I will be leaving Highland Home early Wednesday Morning. :/ I've been blessed by this opportunity to serve here for twelve weeks and be trained here! I won't know where I'll be going until the transfer meeting on Wednesday. President's really good with putting the Transfer powerpoint on the blog so you may find out on that before I'm able to contact you.

 

Elder Kaupert has been an awesome trainer! He will be staying here in Highland Home and training an incoming missionary. We made some pumpkin pies today as a last hurrah :) He still has 15 months left, so odds are we'll be in the same zone or maybe district in the future. He's been here in Highland for 6 months now.

 

I really am grateful for this opportunity I have had to serve in the Highland Home/Greenville areas and the Montgomery Stake. I kinda hope I stay in the zone, cause Elder Walker of the Seventy is coming this weekend to reorganize the Montgomery Stake Presidency, and I love being there when General Authorities come, but I'll be happy to go wherever I'm called!

 

Conference was really good! I was really excited about the message about missionary work! I bet a lot of girls my age are accelerating their plans to leave on missions now. It really excited me, I was giddy the whole day - it's such a historic announcement! We were able to have some good conference watching experiences! We spent both days in the Highland Home/Sardis area and made sure conference was going at the church. We help set up conference in Korean for the Kim family to watch over the internet. We watched the Saturday Morning session at the church. We ate lunch there and saw the press conference about missionary work with Elders Nelson, Holland and Evans which was really good. We watched the afternoon session with Cubert and Becky in their home. We had been praying for that session to be what they needed to hear, and the messages about families were perfect for them! Priesthood meeting was really good. Funny enough only Elder Kaupert, Brother Gillion (the branch clerk) and me were there to see it, which surprised me because this was an off week for Alabama football, so I thought there'd be more people there.

 

Sunday Morning Session we watched with Larry (branch mission leader) and Brenda with our investigator. She came to church a little bit a few years ago, but stopped coming when some friends told her some things that really scared her about the church. Elder Kaupert and I have been teaching her for about 6 weeks now, and she was pretty impressed by what she heard. (go President Eyring and Elder Holland....exactly what she needed to hear!) We had to leave to go watch the afternoon session at someone else's home, but she enjoyed the session so much that she stayed and watched the afternoon session with Larry and Brenda! It was a great conference for the work here in Highland Home.

 

Well, some sad news. Saturday night one of the McGough's cats (Castillo) was attacked by their dogs (Tip, Spike, Emma and Rusty). We thought Castillo was dead, but luckily he survived. He's at the vet right now, keep him in your prayers.

 

Well, I guess that even on an LDS mission I can't get away from the fact that I'm a musician. I am playing piano at the transfer meeting and am doing a violin musical number.

 

It'll be sad to leave our investigators, but I know that there will be new people to meet and to teach in the place i'll end up!

 

Well, with everything that has happened in the last few days, I don't really remember anything else to report, how sad is that! Love you all! Hope to hear from you!

Love

Elder Madsen

 

October 1, 2012 Letter

Hello Family and Friends!

 

We've had a great week! The weather is continuing to stay mild, usually in the low to mid-80s. I enjoy the work we are doing here so much! We have 2 new investigators now who we are really excited about. We taught them first lessons in the last week.

 

Greenville Branch, as we said before, is getting new missionaries next transfer. The exciting part is they are actually getting two sets of missionaries! They will have a set of elders and a senior couple. [The story of why they're getting two is quite miraculous, I'll tell y'all about it in a letter.] We expect, and are excited for, real growth in the area of Greenville in the coming months. For the first time in about a month, we were able to go out and spend Saturday and Sunday in Greenville, spending the night in the church building. The branch is small in numbers but definitely not small in spirit. We had a short but really powerful fast and testimony meeting yesterday.

 

This week I have been thinking about the importance of members with missionary work. I know y'all probably hear this a lot, but members are such a valuable part of the missionary process! This woman we've been teaching works with a member in the Highland Home Branch and that member was so helpful in our teaching of the first lesson with her. The best investigators come from member referrals and having members in lessons is so powerful. I would invite everyone who reads this letter to pray every day for more missionary opportunities. I know that as we do this, and as we become more willing to be instruments in the Lord's hands, that we can bring so many souls to Christ.

 

Cubert and Becky have been doing so well! As I have said, they've really adjusted to member life. When we were teaching them the word of wisdom, the lesson was long (probably 1 1/2 hrs) and the spirit was there. At the end, they committed to keep the Word of Wisdom, and they have held true to that since then, not slipping once! And (just as exciting) they paid their tithing for the first time yesterday!

 

Another plug-in for member missionary work - I firmly believe that the support Cubert and Becky received from branch members here in Highland was vital to them feeling comfortable with their decision to be baptized, and that that same support helped them so much after they were baptized as they familiarized (and are still familiarizing) themselves with the "Mormon Culture". We [members] are more different than we sometimes think we are, and new members need a friend to help them learn. Be that friend.

 

Just as important as that, I think its so important for active members of the church to reach out to those who are less active. Oftentimes (though not all the time) those who are coming less feel because they are afraid they aren't wanted. Let them know they are wanted, and be their friend regardless if they are coming to church are not.

 

Well, back to my life. Some of y'all have asked how often we eat with members. We eat with members really inconsistently. There have been weeks that we have eaten 5 or 6 times with members, and weeks where we haven't eaten at all. The mission has discouraged wards and branches to have "feed the missionary" signups, so we eat with members when they come up to us and ask to feed us. The food, all in all, is very similar to what we have back home, with the exception of the okra, collards, turnip greens and butterbeans. Okra is the best, I could eat some every day! Of course, I've only ever had it fried, and I hear boiled or pickled okra isn't as appetizing. I've not had chittlins yet, and I hope I'll never have to. I'm sort of indifferent with the hush puppies and fried cornbread.

 

Conference is coming!! We are excited! We are planning on watching the sessions of conference with different less-active members, and we are excited for the influence conference will have. President Holzapfel in a letter challenged us missionaries to have a question that we need answered going into conference. I invite everyone to do so - Conference has a unique power to speak to the soul.

 

Well, love you all. Thanks for your letters, love and prayers! God be with you!

 

Love

 

Elder Coleman Madsen

Sept 24, 2012 Letter

Hello Family and Friends!

 

We've had a good week in Highland Home! The weather is getting cooler (finally!) as we move into fall weather. We haven't had a day above the mid-80s in over a week now. The nights it has gotten down to the lower 50s, upper 40s.

 

I talked about Cubert and Becky's baptism last letter. I can't overemphasize how amazing of an experience it was for everybody involved. We had a lot of people there, and everyone said it was the best (most spiritual) baptism they had ever been to.

 

Biggest news is that they are splitting our area. Starting next transfer (2 weeks) Greenville/Butler County will have its own set of missionaries. This will be a great blessing for the members in the Greenville Area. Greenville hasn't had a convert baptism in recent history. By putting full-time missionaries there specifically hopefully that will open the doors for the gospel to start growing in that area. Funny enough Mom, I found this out from you in your letter I got Wednesday night because President put it on the blog. We called President N---- and confirmed what you had said Thursday Morning, and Friday President Holzapfel told us about it when we were in Birmingham. We haven't been in Greenville for about two weeks because of Cubert and Becky's baptism and other things that have come up in Highland, but this week we plan to get back over there.

 

Friday we had our temple trip. Our session was from 1 to 3, so with the 2-1/2 hour drive, plus the fact that we picked up a set of Montgomery elders, it was a day-long extravaganza. The Birmingham temple is one of those temples that doesn't really look that pretty unless you see it in real life, the pictures don't really do it justice. It was a great spiritual experience for me! Its a blessing to have a temple in our mission boundaries. Because the Provo Temple was closed for cleaning when I was in the MTC, its great to finally be able attend the temple while serving as a missionary!

 

Saturday I had a, well, unique experience. We were able to help Brother S---- and his wife load their square hay bales. I think its funny (and they think its funny) that I come from such a rural state yet I've never done something like that before. The funnest part was when Grandma S---- (who was driving the tractor) lost control of the vehicle going down a hill andalmost flipped us over. Didn't get hurt or anything, we weren't going fast enough for that.  Sure had fun though.

 

Yesterday (Sunday) we had our "Homecoming" in Highland Home. The branch invited former branch members back for a special, two-hour long sacrament meeting. All of the still-living former branch presidents and bishops spoke. We had some in-actives who have not been to church for a LONG time there that day. We had 121 people there at the meeting, and that was with a few people out of town and some of the "less active" families not there. It was a record number of people. We filled the whole room and the 4 overflow classrooms, and we had some people outside listening in the hallways. The meeting was perfect length (I thought) - none of the branch presidents spoke for more than 15 minutes. For a lot of the branch members it was a real spiritual experience - a lot of tears were shed. My eyes were watering a little bit.

 

Afterwords we had food - more food than you have ever seen in your life! I don't know how the Relief Society does it. There were probably 8 tables with plates and plates of food on them. We probably could have fed 250 people.

 

Elder and Sister Callister (senior missionary couple) came to the homecoming, and they did some teacher training with us after the activity. Something I guess I haven't really ever talked about in my letters, but that is so true, is the impact senior missionaries have on the missions they serve. I've had the opportunity to get to know Elder and Sister Blau and Elder and Sister Callister so well these past few transfers and have learned a lot for them. Every couple in the church should aim towards serving a mission, there are so many opportunities to serve

 

Not much else to report. We have a new investigator that we are going to start teaching this week in Luverne that "found" us through a member and wants to take the discussions. She was at church on Sunday. We are excited to be able to teach her the next few weeks.

 

Love you all!

 

Elder Coleman Madsen

 

September 17, 2012 Letter

Coleman and his companion at the temple (photo from mission pres blog)

Hello Family and Friends!!

 

A lot to report on this last week!

 

We went on an exchange with Elders Clanton and Dunn again this last week. I was with Elder Dunn again, this time in Montgomery. We had a two-day exchange, so I spent Tuesday and Wednesday night there. Wednesday during our lunch hour I was able to see the Martin Luther King Jr. home and take a tour of it. It was a neat, almost spiritual experience for me to see. The marks are still there from where the bomb exploded. A lot of cool history happened in Montgomery.

 

We had some really good teaching experiences while I was in Montgomery. Tuesday night we had dinner with a man they had met on the street with his family. It turned into a good lesson on our beliefs, and we were able to resolve a lot of their concerns about the church. When you are on exchanges and are in a different area its always a bittersweet experience having good lessons, because you really enjoy them but at the same time you know that you wont be able to teach these people. While we were there we spent a lot of time contacting former investigators. Wednesday night we were able to go on splits with the ward mission leader and teach some of the less active members in the ward. I enjoyed the experiences I had there. While Elders Clanton and Kaupert were in Highland Home Elder Clanton interviewed Cubert and Becky for baptism.

 

Friday we had the funeral for Chic, the less-active man who died last Sunday. I won't say it was a fun experience, because funerals never really are, but it was good to see the community there to support the family. A lot of the people in the branch were really supportive. Two ladies spent over 30 hours each this week helping the family prepare for the funeral. A brother-in-law who lives in Clanton (out of our area) who is an active member of the church "preached" at the funeral, and dedicated the grave. It was comforting that even though a lot of the family has distanced themselves from the church recently, they still had a Melchizedek Priesthood holder conduct the funeral. Events like this, sad as they are, sometimes open the door for us as missionaries to reach out to those who have experienced loss of a loved one. Hopefully this experience will open those doors.

 

Friday afternoon Elder Jensen (Elder Kaupert's previous companion) and his companion Elder Zundel came from Hamilton and spent the night with us. Although they didn't teach them the missionary lessons, Elder Kaupert and Elder Jensen did a lot of service for Cubert and Becky before I came, and they wanted him to be able to share the special day with them.

 

Saturday was the baptism. It was the most spiritual baptism I have ever been to, and everyone else involved said the same thing. A lot of Cubert and Becky's children and their families(who are less actives) came. President and Sister Holzapfel showed up, which was just as much a suprise to us as it was to everyone else. Cubert really enjoyed when President Holzapfel spoke to the branch on Pioneer day, that first Sunday I was here, so he was really happy to see him again. Elder and Sister Callister, the senior missionary couple who came with us to a teaching appointment with Cubert and Becky a month-and-a-half ago, came as well. Everyone was crying. Jerry, Cubert's nephew and the High Priest's group leader in the branch, conducted and gave a talk at the baptism. Elder Kaupert also gave a talk, and I accompanied the hymns and played the interlude music (Highland Home is short on pianists). Everyone involved was spiritually fed. President took pictures which should be on the blog soon. [I have one picture from the event but I think the one he has is better.]

 

Sunday we were able to confirm them members of the church (I confirmed Becky). Its hard to describe how amazing of an experience this was for me. Suffice it to say I wouldn't be anywhere else in the world right now than Highland Home. I have some more information on the baptism which I will send in a different letter.

 

Well, a lot to report on, and little time to do it in. This is just a brief summary of some of the good experiences we had this week, it would take me hours and hours to adequately describe them.

 

Love and Miss yall!

 

Baptism

On the property where he lives

More property shots

Storms 

September 10, 2012 Letter

Hello Family and Friends!

 

It's been a good week this week! We are moving closer and closer to Cubert and Becky's baptism, it's this Saturday!

 

I'll start out by answering a question that a few people have asked me in their letters. As you all know, Elder Kaupert and I actually cover two different areas, the Highland Home Branch (which is Crenshaw County) and the Greenville Branch (Butler County). Some of y'all've asked the ethnicity of the people I'm teaching (if I'm teaching black people or white people). In the Highland Home Branch the members are all white. When we tract in Luverne we find some black folks, but very few; Crenshaw is a very white area of Alabama. In the Greenville Branch the actives are all white (except one older lady) but there are a lot of black less actives. The majority of people we tract into in Greenville have been black, mainly because we have been tracting in black areas of Greenville. Sadly though, our tracting efforts and baptismal committments we've made in Greenville with these people haven't come to fruition. So, the ethnicities we interact with really just depend on where we are.

 

We survived "severe weather week". We had the hurricane/tornado warnings which I talked about last week, but that night the remnants of Isaac came back from the north - we got some pretty bad thunderstorms and 7 inches of rain! We had a Flash Flood Warning for the whole area, and there were a lot of roads closed. Within 1 week we had had 1 Tornado warning, 2 tornado watches, 1 severe thunderstorm warning, 2 flash flood warnings, and a flash flood watch.

 

I know I've mentioned the food in the past, but let me just say this - It's dang good! I love the fried okra! I don't know what people were saying that it was the most disgusting vegetable ever. I haven't tried it boiled or pickled though, which I hear is less good. We get to eat with people a lot; members, less actives and investigators. And it's all pretty good food (and lots of it).

 

The last week and a half or so I have been focused more on faith then I have in the past. I've been reading Ether Chapter 12 at the beginning of each daily personal study. There are so many things that can be applied to all of us - Faith really is the empowering principle of gospel lives.

 

The community was hit by tragedy last week. Two older ladies (members) are in the hospital, and one man ( an inactive member) drowned in a pool yesterday and some homes have burned down. I've never experienced a small town before, but its amazing how in a small town within an hour everyone has heard what is happening. People are a little distressed, hopefully this season of bad luck will end.

 

We had a zone meeting last week (and of course, I had to play the piano :/). We found out that our zone, which only had 4 baptisms in July, had 9 baptisms in August! We also heard that when Elder Koelliker came, he felt like our mission needs to attend the temple more often. Previous to now, missionaries generally get to attend the temple once every 7 to 8 months. We now have a temple trip scheduled for next Friday. I'm glad for the opportunity, its been a while since I've been.

 

The missionaries get to watch the CES firesides. Last night's CES fireside with Elder Holland was GREAT!! He is one of my favorite GAs and the message he gave is so applicable to everyone - I encourage y'all to watch it, I believe its on LDS.org.

 

We have no new investigators this last week, but we've recently got some referrals that I feel really good about. As we've gotten closer to Cubert and Becky's baptism weve been seeing them more and more. Hopefully will have more to report next week on that front. I'll send the pictures I've been taking next week as well.

 

Love y'all and miss y'all!

 

Elder Madsen

 

September 3, 2012 Letter

Hello Family and Friends!!

 

Well, I survived Hurricane Isaac! The Friday before the projections showed it heading straight towards central Alabama so it was kind of crazy here for a few days, but by Monday it was pretty obvious that it was gonna hit west of us. We got very little rain (for a hurricane), less than 1.5 inches from it. We had some exciting, suprising weather though! Hurricanes, as you know, often produce spinoff tornadoes (or, as they say in the south, "tornaders"). 4:00 Thursday Morning we were woken up by a suprise Tornado Warning, so we headed for shelter. We later found out that sirens went off in Highland Home, so I think they detected a funnel cloud, but no tornadoes touched down. We had a tornado watch the next day as well.

 

We had a really good lesson with Cubert and Becky this week on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Everything just seemed to fall into place. Becky has a sewing shop connected to her house that she runs with Wanda her daughter. Wanda is an inactive member who hasn't been to church for years, and is often in the shop when we teach her parents but she never comes and listens. This lesson she invited herself into the lesson, and was a very active participant. We talked about the importance of the sacrament with all of them, and I feel like it really sunk in. It was the perfect lesson for all of them.

 

Virginia is doing better, and she and Gary were both at church Sunday. Virginia actually got up and bore her testimony, it was a touching experience. The branch has been so good to both of them. They both love coming to church, they just need to be baptized.

 

I've not mentioned Sondra in the last few letters because we've not been able to contact her since that first lesson. She is in Mississippi right now helping family members who were hit by the Hurricane. Her husband should come back from Saudi Arabia in the next one or two weeks, and hopefully well be able to teach them and their children together.

 

Because of the holiday weekend, our Saturday in Greenville was really unproductive. We weren't able to get one lesson! Our investigators in Greenville are dropping like flies (pardon the expression). We've had amazing first lessons with people, even sometimes baptismal date commitments, but every one of them seems to fail. Its too bad really. But we'll keep trying there.

 

As missionaries we have the opportunity to teach the gospel essentials class in the Highland Home branch when we are there. Its a neat class and a neat program to help teach the adults who don't know as much, whether it's because they are recent converts or because they were once less actives. Its good to be able to refine my class-teaching skills since missionary lesson settings are very different. I had the opportunity to teach yesterday (this was my second time) about eternal families, and it went really well. I look forward to continuing being able to teach.

 

All to report now (or at least all the time to!)

Elder Madsen

 

August 27, 2012

Hello Family and Friends!

 

So its official - I will not be included in the transfer meeting on Wednesday - Elder K--and I will be staying in Highland Home. I can't believe its the end of my first of only 16 transfers! Time sure flies on the mission. Im really excited that Im staying here.  I've really grown to love everyone here, and I really wanted to stay for Cubert and Becky's baptism. My address will be good at least till Mid-October.

 

I hear that pictures from Elder Koelliker's visit are on the mission blog already - It was a wonderful experience! It was my first-ever zone conference, and I was able to see Elder F-- and Elder H-- from my MTC district. He taught and trained on a lot of different things, and I won't bore you with a whole lot of details. But he promised us if we can all successfully apply the principles we teach in our own lives so we can teach by example, that our baptismswill double, and I know its true. Something he talked about that really struck me is the importance of establishing standard patterns in our lives that enable us to maximize our potential; as people and, particularly, as missionaries. He talked a lot about a "sense of urgency" and getting excited about the work we do. President Holzapfel also trained us. Something I really like what he talked about is from Chapter 1 of Preach My Gospel about being a successful missionary. Often times we as missionaries are tempted to view numbers as an indication of our success, but If we are doing everything we are supposed to and have the spirit guiding our work, we are successful missionaries. There were so many things I learned, but not enough time to share them all here. I'll share some of them in later letters.

 

I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't excited about the Hurricane/Tropical Storm Isaac. A hurricane is something I really want to see while I'm out, and this area is the southernmost area of the mission. Friday it was looking like Isaac was coming straight towards us, so a lot of people in the area were really worried, but as the storm has gotten closer projections have moved it towards Mississippi and maybe even New Orleans. People are still getting ready for it though. Sister M--'s sister from Orange Beach, Alabama is coming up today and staying with the M's for a few days - there have been ordered evacuations on the coast. This area was devastated by Hurricane Opal a long time ago, but that was a Category 4 and it came straight towards us. President Holzapfel has contacted us, is on the watch for potential weather issues, and will direct us via conference call Tuesday Night before the storm hits what we will do. Worst case scenario predicted for this area, according to Sister M--, is 45 mph winds and 8 inches of rain, so we should be fine. We're opening the church for people with mobile homes though, because a lot of the poorer people's homes aren't as stable.

 

Uncle John came a few days ago. Uncle John is Brother M--'s 92-year old uncle who lives in Tennessee, but spends a few months of the year with the M--s. Its amazing how so many of the really older people in their 90s are so full of energy (they've been working their whole lives) and the young people are just lazy (blunt, but true). Uncle John is 92 and he's out riding around the property on the gator doing chores and cleaning things. I hope I will be that way when Im old.

 

The work is going well too! When in Greenville on Saturday and Sunday we were able to recontact some previous investigators we had lost contact with. I think I have mentioned this in a previous letter, but Greenville is a pretty anti-mormon area. Its frustrating because most of the people we teach are very poor and in projects, and they don't stay in one area for long. But we are at least planting seeds, and we have a couple progressing investigators there. There's a man there that the missionaries have been friends with for a while. He's plays the piano and organ for a number of  churches. He took us out to dinner at Cracker Barrel Saturday night and we had some good conversation with him.

 

I'ts a blessing that we aren't being transferred this month, because we probably didn't have enough miles on our car to get us where we needed to be.

 

We had a nice dinner at Cubert and Becky's on Friday, where we left a spiritual thought with them. They are still coming to church and we are moving ahead with them. Yall are probably wondering why its taking a while with them, but remember Cubert and Becky are older, and, from what experience I've had, It often is harder for the older folks to have big changes in their lives, such as baptism. But we are so proud of them and are excited for their planned September 15th baptism.

 

Well, thats all here. Hope to hear from yall! Love ya!

 

Elder Madsen

 

August 20, 2012

Hello!

 

Hope yall are doin well. Things have been going well here.

 

Not a whole lot to report. We did companionship exchanges again this last week, this time with our district leader. Elder K---- and Elder C---(our DL) went up to Montgomery, and Elder D---(other DL) came down here with me. It was a big growing experience for me, as I had to pretty much run the show for a day. That day we were able to see Tiffany's children (I can't remember if I've mentioned Tiffany - shes a less active) and have a good lesson with them. We also biked up to Highland Home and saw Gary and Virginia. Virginia went to the hospital in Montgomery on Thursday for high blood pressure, and as far as I know shes still there. Please keep her in your prayers.

 

Its been kind of a weird week this week. We've pretty much been in the Highland area the whole week. Elder K--- front tire popped so we've been doing a lot of walking. Funny enough the day after our flat tire we got another flat tire - this one on the car. Evidently our luck was on vacation or something. Because of the exchange, we didn't have time to go to Luverne this week. We did a lot of service in Highland Saturday morning. We helped S----- put a tarp on her roof for leaks until J---- gets back and they can replace the roof. We spent late morning-early afternoon helping B---  and S---- put vinyl siding on their house. B---- and S---- are great people, and it was great to see them at church the next day. Because of the service in Highland, we weren't able to get to Greenville until after 3.

 

Church on Sunday we spent at the Highland Home branch. We had a great, really productive coordination meeting with L--- (the branch mission leader) and President H----. We had a high councilor speaker in Sacrament Meeting and a linger longer afterwords with sandwiches and treats. The linger longer ("Hat Day") was a success, but we only had 75 people (compared with 102 for the activity last month). We've had attendance at 69-71-75 the first three sundays of August. We need to have at least 65 people next week to get the 70+ monthly average for the new building.

 

As I said, not a whole lot to report this week. No new investigators. We weren't in Greenville very long, or in Luverne at all, so no tracting into new investigators this week. Danny, the newly called executive secretary in Highland, brought his grandkids to church yesterday though - we hope to teach them and their family in the upcoming weeks.

 

Haha, I just realized that I almost forgot to mention C--- and B---. They are moving ahead - we taught them the Plan of Salvation this last week, and are still set for the September baptism date. They've invited us to dinner for this Friday. They've been at church every Sunday, and are very much already a part of the branch.

 

I've been having to play the piano much more than I thought I would have to when I came out - for some reason there's a huge lack of piano players in the mission. Ive been having to play at our district meetings, and our zone meeting we had a few weeks ago. The mission conference we have on Wednesday this week I have to play for. Keep me in your prayers. Playing when there's a general authority is pretty intimidating. Ive been practicing but I need all the help I can get, and practice time on the mission of course is very limited. I have improved a lot with my playing since Ive come out though.

 

Weve gotten a lot of storms the past few weeks. Alabama rain is very different than im used to. It pours and pours and pours. And then it stops, just like that. But Ive never seen rain come down as fast before in my life.

 

I was able to catch most of President Monson's birthday fireside Saturday night. I hope yall were able to see that. It was very well done and they had amazing guest artists.

 

Well, I guess thats all for now. Yall are welcome to mail me letters, I love to read them! Its exciting to hear from all of you how things are back home. Hope all is well.

 

Love yall!

 

Elder Coleman Madsen

 

August 13, 2012

Hello Family and Friends!!

It is appropriate for everyone to email me at my residence address. I've gotten a few letters that people have sent to the mission, and while those letters get to me eventually, they are delayed about two weeks. (Why it takes them so long to forward them I don't know).

The last week started out well. Last Tuesday President and Sister Holzapfel came to our district meeting. It was a really good experience. I had another opportunity to interview with him. He's an amazing man. After the district meeting when we came back home, Elder K--and I did a practice baptism, so I'm officially trained and ready now to baptize people. So now we just need more people who are ready to be baptized! ;)

In my letter from Dad I realized that I haven't told you all a lot about Elder K--- besides what I put in my first letter. His family is from the Monterey Bay area of California. He's a fitness and health guru, and is the first person I've met (besides Mom) who reads the labels on my food more than I do. He's awesome though. He really likes listening to all different kinds of music. He's a great teacher and a great trainer. I'm blessed to have been able to get to know him.

We had branch conference in Greenville yesterday, so we actually spent two whole days there. Branch Conference was a good experience. It was funny because since so many stake people came down we had 40 people instead of the usual 15. I was able to meet the Montgomery Stake President. President Holzapfel and President B--- both went on a radio talk show about a month and a half ago and answered questions about the church. This was before I got here, but I tell you because it would be something interesting for you to look up and listen to. After Branch Conference we had a luncheon where we had an opportunity to interact with the Greenville members, which we needed.

I can't remember if I told you about Conrad last week. Awesome guy, awesome lesson. He flat out told us that he knew what we were teaching was true, then and there. We visited him again on Saturday and he's going out of town for about a month for family reasons, so we're gonna have to delay teaching him, which is a bummer but life is life I guess. We've been tracting a lot of government projects, which is good because often people are very receptive, but the bad thing is that people move out a lot.

  

J-- is in Saudi Arabia now and will be there for a month on an oil rig. S---(his wife) and the kids have committed to be baptized when he gets back, but definitely want to wait until then, which I understand. We went over and visited them again this week, and they are doing well. His mother and her "common-law husband" are also investigators and regularly attend church, but until they are married in an official ceremony they aren't eligible for baptism. I don't know if y'all know what common law is, I didn't until I got out here. Once a couple has lived together for six months, they can claim "common law" and receive the same benefits a married couple would without officially getting married. The difference between it and marriage is that a common law marriage ends when you stop living with that person, so you don't have to go through divorce. The church, understandably, doesn't recognize common-law marriages.

Wednesday we met the nicest 92-year old lady who promptly invited us in. Man, she was a talker. We sat there for an hour and fifteen minutes trying to start a lesson but every time we would start she would start talking about someone else. I feel like we normally do a good job with controlling the conversations we have with people, but we totally lost this one. We  plan to go back and teach her this next week though.

The food here is very similar to food back home. A lot of Buffet places, especially for an isolated place like Highland home. A couple from the ward took Elder K--- and I out to a buffet called "It Dont Matter" about a week and a half ago, and I must say it was pretty good. I tried fried ocra there for the first time. It was ok, but not something I would eat on a regular basis. Pretty much the only difference between food out west and food in the south is that in the south they fry everything and have about twice as many vegetables. Of course, all nutritional value that one could gain from these vegetables is negated by the copious amounts of oil, lard or batter that they are cooked in.

I think I mentioned this in a previous letter, but its kind of funny how up-to-date on current events we are from our conversations with people. We obviously aren't supposed to bring up subjects like that, but if they start talking about it we let them talk and just agree with what theyre saying.

One thing I have gained since I have gotten here is an appreciation for my gospel upbringing, and for the priesthood and temple blessings. There are a lot of people here who haven't received those temple blessings, even active members of the church, and its too bad, because the temple provides us with so much strength. As missionaries we try to help recent converts and less actives get to the temple, because its in the temple that the gospel blessings can be fully realized.

Let me know how yall are doing, I love you all!

Elder Madsen

Coleman and his companion