Week 69

Happy New Year!!!!
 

 We went bowling last pday!

Can you believe that it is already 2015! Holy cow how did that happen?? I am so excited for this new year. Sister Bray and I had a pretty hoppin' new years eve.....we had to be in our appartment by 6pm. I think we cleaned a little and I caught up on some journal writing and then we went to bed at like 10pm. We woke up at midnight to the sound of fireworks right outside our window. So LOUD!!!! but I just fell right back asleep.
 

The sisters from the Dortmund zone at zone training!

This week was a lot of zone meetings. Bless Sister Bray's heart....it is probably not that fun being a sister training leaders companion. haha. We had two zone trainings this week. First we had one in Dortmund with the Dortmund zone! It is always weird to be back in that church building. But we had a really good meeting about setting new goals for the new year. Then the next day we had zone training in Düsseldorf. It was pretty much the same kind of topics. Both were really good!

 

The Dortmund zone!

In the midst of all that, we had a split with the Essen sisters! They are so awesome and it was fun to be able to get to know Sister Bates and Sister Sherwood a little better!

 

Split pic with Sister Bates!

Sister Bray and I also were able to meet with some awesome people this week. We went by to visit an old lady in our ward. She lives in an assisted living home. It took us forever to find it but we finally did and it was so worth it. She was so surprised we came to visit he and she was so happy. It just felt good to be there with her. And she just bore her simple testimony to me and it just reminded me why I am here.

 

Düsseldorf zone sisters at zone training!

I am so grateful for this new year. I was reading in the New Testament about when Christ called his disciples and He told them to come follow Him and He would make them fishers of men. What impressed me, is that they left immediately. They didn't hesitate or ask questions. I really want to so that this year. I want to drop all my nets and choose immediately to be a disciple of Christ.

 

Just some MTC homies.....

I love you all so much! I hope you are well!!! Have a great week!

Love,
Sister Madsen

Week 68

This week was Christmas!! YAY!

 

We have snow in Duisburg!

Not going to lie.....Christmas on the mission is really weird and sometimes it doesn't really feel like Christmas but I loved it. I will mostly send pics this week because there is really not too much to talk about!
 

Christmas Eve!

I love skyping my family! It was weird saying goodbye and being like see you in 2 months! haha! I love my family! They are so awesome!

 

Christmas in Duisburg!

Christmas day with the Meyers

I hope you all enjoyed your christmas and I hope you have a happy new year.

I will be stuck in my apartment from 6pm on....yay for being safe!!

 

Jessica was baptized on the 26th! YAY!

Love you all! have a great week!

 

Last pday we got pizza with our district

Love,
Sister Madsen

Week 67

This week has been pretty good. We had a lot of meetings this week so I felt like I was never really in my area.

 

Back in Dortmund baby!

On Tuesday we had zone conference in Dortmund. It was the first time I have been back in my golden area for a year! It was weird to be back in the Dortmund church. It brought back a lot of memories. Especially since I spent last Christmas there. Zone conference went really well. Sister Bray and I sang "O Holy Night" which was fun. I LOVE singing with her. We learned a lot about having no fear and being bold and remembering that we are set apart to do this work.

 

Pic with the APs at zone conference! Love these elders!

I also had another split this week with Sister Heywood. Sister Bray went to Münster and I stayed in Duisburg. Sister Heywood is seriously one of the nicest sisters I have ever met. I loved our split!!!

 

Split pic with sister Heywood!

I also had MLC in Frankfurt on friday. I traveled alone with the zone leaders. Split! haha! It was weird not having a sister around me for a few hours. haha....but MLC was really good. It is always a long day though. We left at 6:30 am that morning and then got home at midnight the same day.
I was pooped.

 

Saying goodbye to Sister Erickson at MLC.

The next day we had a really good appointment with some girls from our ward. They are so nice to us and I really feel like they are my family here in Duisburg. It is really hard to be away from my family for Christmas but I know that I am supposed to be here right now. I love that I have this time to really focus on my Savior and what a huge gift He is for me.

 

Some of my favorite ladies! I heart Dusiburg!

Well I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!!! I am excited to skype my family. We will be eating a lot of food here in Germany! And we also have a baptism on the 26th!! Woohoo!!

Love you all!!
Sister Madsen

Week 66

Sorry I am not feeling too well today
so I am going to skip out on the blog post.......

I will make up for it next week

Love you!!!

Week 65

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I definitely missed the turkey dinner and the post dinner food coma. But that's ok. Our thanksgiving day was special.....All of our appointments fell out. It took everything I had within me to just get outside and do something even though we literally had nothing to do. We went to visit an investigator but she wasn't home.

 

We had a Christmas themed zone training.

The zone leaders and I had matching sweaters...precious...

So I told Sister Bray that we were going to do some street contacting down this one street. I told her we ould talk to everyone who passed us and we would take turns. We talked to EVERYONE for like 4 blocks. People were pretty rude. I was having such negative thoughts. I just wanted to be home having thanksgiving dinner with my family, not walking in the cold talking to mean people. But then we saw a bank. We found someones credit card on the street earlier so we walked that way to return it. The very last person we contacted before we went in the bank took a Book of Mormon and we got her number. She also really wants to meet with us again. Sweet!

 

Our lovely district!

Then we were hungry so we went to this pizza place and ordered some fries. While we were waiting...we got talking to the worker there and we ended up giving him and his friend a Book of Mormon and we got his contact info. Plus they gave us our fries for free! Awesome!
This little experience was just a reminder to me that God is aware of our work. He knows when we are working diligently and He will bless us for it. I really felt like God was watching out for us and we were definitely not alone on the streets that day.

 

After Transfer calls! Woohoo!

We had transfer calls on saturday. Are you ready for the crazy news of the transfer. Well actually this transfer call was so boring. Like, literally nothing changed! They didn't call a new sister training leader for the Dortmund zone. We were all confused and then president called me right after transfer calls. He told me that I would be the STL for both Düsseldorf and the Dortmund zone. ha....ha.....Oh boy I thought things couldnt get any crazier after last transfer calls. I am actually really excited to be able to get to know even more sisters! It will definitely be an adventure!

 

I got to go on a split this week with Sister Hall! She is training in her third transfer! so legit!!!

Well I love you all and I hope you have a fantastic week!

Love,
Sister Madsen

Week 64

This week has been really good.
We have been keeping busy here in the Dirty D.

 

Christmas market in Duisburg!!!

We found 4 new investigators this week.....of course they were all for other missionaries. But that's ok!

 

Guess who's back in the Dirty D??? Simon Hallman!!!! We served together in Dortmund!

 I had MLC again this week in Frankfurt.

 

On the way to Frankfurt for MLC with the Zone Leaders

I traveled with the Sister Training Leader from the Dortmund zone, Sister Jefferies. She is seriously one of the nicest people I have ever met. We left early friday morning and made the journey to Frankfurt. Then we got home late that night. It was a long day and we were pretty pooped by the end.

 

Travel buddies! Elder Bruneel, Elder Nelson, and Sister Jefferies

While I was at MLC, Sister Bray led her first split in Duisburg. She was with another golden and they did such a good job. I didnt even worry about them the whole day because Sister Bray is such a boss!

 

Sister Bray and I at the Duisburg Weihnachts market

We have such great members here. One of the YSA is preparing for her mission and she came with us one afternoon to teach an investigator. Another day we went with our Relief Society president to visit a member in our ward. Our Relief Society president is an amazing woman. I learned a lot from her in just those short few hours that we were together.

 

After our Haribo purchases on Pday!

We also went to the Haribo factory for pday. So much fun!!! We walked in and the smell of sugar just like hit us. SO MUCH HARIBO!!! I loved it! I bough like a kilo of candy. SAWEET!

 

In the Haribo factory! aka Heaven

I am doing pretty good! I love it here in duisburg. I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve at this time. There are people in Germany prepared to hear this gospel!

 

Some cute girls we are teaching. They put our name tags on

I love you all! I hope you have a fantastic week!!!!

Love,
Sister Madsen

Week 63

This week has been pretty good. The work is really starting to pick up here in Duisburg. Sister Bray and I have seen a lot progress just in a short 7 days. We were able to meet with some investigators and to continue to get to know the ward better.

My favorite store!! Primark!! woohoo!

There have just been many moments this week where I really felt that God was looking out for us. We have had a lot of teaching opportunities and I am so grateful that the Lord is helping us move the work forward here.

Split pic with Sister Bunderson!

We had another split this week. I was with Sister Bunderson. She is brand new on her mission. But she is so legit. Her German is so good! Holy cow! She is totally rockin' it here in Germany. We had a really good split and it was good to get to know her a little better!

At the street display in Kleve!

We also went to a steet display in Kleve on Saturday. Some elders from our district had one and we went to help out. Kleve is really close to the Netherlands so there were a lot of people speaking Dutch. I would contact someone and then they would start talking and it kind of sounded German but definitely wasn't. It is kind of funny sounding too. Like durpdedoodledurpdeeda.....haha

The Duisburg missionaries!

I am so grateful to be serving here in Duisburg. I have never felt more that this is WHERE I am supposed to be WHEN I am supposed to be here. It is a really good feeling and makes me want to work even harder!

I love you all! I hope you have a great week!

Love,
Sister Madsen