Mom!

      These past couple weeks we have been on fire!!  Six weeks ago, our branch was averaging only 25 to 30 people at church, so my companion and I decided to sit down and make a six-week vision.  We set a goal to start getting 50+ people to come out to church by the end of the six weeks.  For a month it looked like it was not going to happen, but we didn't give up and kept working hard!! Last week, we had 50 come to church and this week we had 54!!  I am way pumped!  We went searching for one of the less active families that the Branch President had told us used to be wayy active.  We searched forever and finally found their house.  They are so good! They had moved kind of far from the church and work a lot, but they still have a fire burning and want to come back sooo bad!! They even have a 10-year-old little boy who they have been preparing for us to teach!  So, this as been a very good week!

      Oh yea--crazy story.  We were at a church activity for the YSA and it went to 9:15 pm which is a little later than normal.  Two of the girls and their mom had to end up walking home (this is not the best place for three women to be walking around at night--especially where they live!)  So, Elder Paewai and I walked with them to their home. Their house is in this kind of jungle like place, is really secluded, and is in a very ghetto area.  After we dropped them off, we started walking back through the trails.   It was pitch black, but I could still see this guy standing off in the woods.  My heart instantly dropped!  But, we thought that we would walk on by and that maybe he wouldn't see us--but of course, he did. This guy was literally crazy--definitely on drugs.  He turned around and said, "white men" and started walking towards us.  Elder Paewai and I kind of started to speed walk--but then the guy started to run after us--so I yelled, "RUN" and we took off!  We ran until we got back to the main streets with all the lights and people. He never did catch up to us--I think that as soon as we ran, he just gave up!

     Transfers happened this week!! Elder Paewai left--he is so cool, for sure one of my favorite companions. He has had a very interesting life; he was a sheep shearer before his mission in the outback of Australia.  We also went to KK for a zone meeting this week and the senior couple made us pasta.  It was AMAZING!  Is it still snowing there!??  Ha, I have had the same exact weather for almost 20 months now!!   It is crazy how fast time is flying!!

 I love ya momma!!

Elder Madsen