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