7th week in MTC

Hi Momma,

     It is amazing how fast time goes.  My teacher said that there are three stages in a mission--the MTC, the first six weeks in the field and the rest of your mission.  He said after the first six weeks in the field, the rest of your mission feels like six months. Time goes by so fast.

     I had to go to the doctor this week.  I was getting worried because for the past 3-4 days I had earaches really bad through out the day.  So I went in and they said I had a pretty bad sinus infection and an ear infection.  I got some amoxicillin which helped with my earaches a lot.  But it makes my nose bleed every time I take it. So, I might just die. I did have to pay a combined total of $3.00 for the drugs.  Sorry!  My roommates always laugh when I tell them that Martha used to get mad at the kids if we would go to the hospital at BYU-I.  Like that one time I almost died from choking on that pork. (Just to defend myself--An emergency room visit is $100.00.  I always told the kids to wait and go to the health center the next day, but to them everything was an emergency! - Martha).

     We have our tentative flight plans.  I am the only Elder flying to LA on Monday, September 17th at 8 am, the rest of the Elders leave Salt Lake at 6 pm, so I have a 12 hour layover in LA by myself.  They are trying to see if they can pull some strings, but if not I'll be in LA at 10:00 am to almost midnight.  Then we will leave at 11:50 pm to Hong Kong.  (In other letters and emails that Mike sent, we put two and two together and figured out that the powers to be were planning on flying him out to Singapore all by himself--no companion--no other Elders--just Mike--by himself!  That is not the kind of news that a mother wants to hear, so I had Rick call the MTC.  Weirdly enough, the MTC was also shocked that Elder Madsen was flying around the world by himself.  Michael called us later that night to tell us that his flight arrangements had been changed and he now is flying with a group of Elders to Hong Kong.  After that he will be put on a direct flight to Singapore by himself--which I suppose he can handle--as long as they don't fly over Russian airspace!) 

     For personal study I have been listening to a lot of Conference talks in Malay.  Elder Wirthlin gave a really good talk on overcoming trials.  He gave these steps to getting though trials:

            1.  Learn to laugh,
            2.  Seek for eternal understanding,
            3.  Understand eternal compensation, and
            4.  Put your trust in the Lord

    I was also studying about enduring to the end and something popped into my mind, "baptism is only the beginning."  As missionaries if we push people into baptism when we know they are not ready, it is selfish on our part.  If an investigator gets baptized and falls away soon after, it would have been better if they hadn't received the gospel.

     Here is my going away scripture for you! "Kuatkan dan teguhkanlah hatimu.  Janganlan takut dan Jangan gemptar Kareria mereka.  Sekab Tahan, Allahmu.  Dialan yang berjalan menyertai engrauj la tida akan memblaiarkan engku dan tidar akan meninggalkan."  Ulangan 31:6

"Be strong and of good courage.  Fear not, nor be afraid of them:  for the Lord he it is that doth go with thee, he will not fail thee."  Deuteronomy 31:6

Jumpa Lagi,
Elder Madsen