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

Mom!

     You don't need to worry about violence here.  Sandakan hasn't had too much trouble with the Filipino terrorism; it was mostly in Tawau, which is a little bit farther out than us. However, the police here are always cracking down on illegal Filipinos.  They set up roadblocks at random places and then pull everyone off the bus and check them. If they catch you in the country illegally and you don't pay them 500 RM on the spot, they will just throw you in jail--no questions asked.  Like one guy, who is a RM, was caught by the police. They just took all his money and his belongings and threw him in prison for 8 months.  Then, they just threw him back out on the streets with nothing but the clothes on his back. The police also always target this one super ghetto Filipino village (all their houses are like wood shacks).  At like 7 pm, they will cut the power, so that the town is pitch black, and then they will start raiding houses and stores looking for them.  So our area is a little scary, but not for us missionaries--we are fine--just for the members here!!

      The other night my companion and I were walking home and all of the sudden we hear a guy yell in Malay, "Hey, you two--Come here, Come!"  He was half running, half hobbling over to us, so I grabbed my companion and started backing up. I was like, "Wait man, this guy is gonna rob us--be careful!"  So, we kept backing up and yelling at him, asking him what he wanted, but he kept telling us to come here.  Finally, we edged ourselves over close to him and asked him what was wrong and the poor old man was lost!  He was like 80 and was totally out of it!! He told us that he was from KK and he wanted to meet his son.  I asked him where his son lived and he said mile 2, which was a solid 3 second drive from where we were, so I just pointed him in the right direction and said, "Uncle, it is right in front of your face!" but, he just kept saying no. I called Jason and gave the phone to the old guy, but they had basically the same conversation that we just had! So the old guy gave me the phone back and Jason starts yelling at me, "Don't give your phone to random drunk guys on the street!!" But, he really wasn't drunk--he sounded drunk--but he wasn't.  He was just really, really old. SO, finally we got his son's number and called him. We were in mile 2 1/2....his son lived in mile 8!! The old man wasn't even close!! Finally, we got the old man to his son's home; it feels good to help people!!

Love ya mom and miss ya!

Elder Madsen

MOM!! 

     This week was okay.  Last Sunday we met a couple of good families, but when we went back to teach them yesterday you could tell that some one had told them about us.   Every single person just wanted to Bible bash--except without the Bible part.  This is how our conversations went:

 "If God gave us prophets in the olden times, do you think he would give us prophets now?"

"NO"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because we don't need prophets, Christ was enough. It says so in the Bible"

Then I said, "Oh no way!  Where in the Bible does it say that?"

"I don’t know, but I know it’s in there!"

 I then replied, "Well if you say we don't need prophets, then that would mean we don't need the Bible right? Because prophets wrote the Bible?"

Then, they acted like they couldn't hear me. So, we spent a whole day listening to people yell at us.

     On a lighter note, we went to a Muslim wedding.  For an hour I knew what it felt like to be famous!!  Like no joke, I have had people ask for a picture with me before, but this was beyond that. People took at least 100 pictures of us--if not more. We would be sitting there eating our food and people would be sitting there taking pictures of us.  For 20 minutes we stood by the bride and groom and had pictures taken with them.  I was blind from all the flashes of the camera's going off!  It was a surreal experience!!

     We have been working a lot with the less active members and we had forty people came to church yesterday!! Usually, our attendance is in the upper 20's to low 30's so we were wayyy pumped about having so many people come out.  We are seeing some progress!!

     I forgot to tell you about our service that we do here. Every Tuesday we go to a place where older mentally handicapped people live and visit with them for thirty minutes.  We do the same routine every time.  As soon as they see us walk in the door, they know exactly what to do! First, they get all the chairs set up in a circle.  Then we pass the ball to each other and after that, we kick the ball to each other.  Then we dance and then we go for a walk! Honestly, those thirty minutes feel like three hours, but it is still a good experience!!

     How is school?? It seems like KC is getting hit with a lot of snow lately!! I love you mom and hope all is well!! 

Elder Madsen 

New Year

Mom 

     This week was Chinese New Year which means three things: 1) Random people give me money; 2) We get dinner appointments every night of the week; and 3) only one hour of church!! (don’t really know if President knows about that one).  So, this week was a lot of fun. We went over to the rich Chinese lady's house again and she made us an AMAZING dinner.  We went into her backyard and drank and ate coconuts for like two hours! (I’ll send you the videos). We also had one of the recent Filipino RM's go out and help us find new investigators. It literally took us just four hours of wandering around in random villages to find several new families to teach!! (To be completely honest, we are not supposed to teach or baptize illegal Filipino's--AKA EVERY FILIPINO IN SABAH—but, it's kind of a don’t ask, don’t tell thing.) So, I am way pumped about our new families; it should be a solid next couple of weeks!

        I just passed my 5 month mark.  I hope that I can finish my mission here in Sandakan (that way I never have to ride a bike again!!!)  I love you sooooo much mom and tell Meg THANKS SOOOOO MUCH for everything!! You all are the best! 

Elder Madsen