Happy Christmas and then some!

Welp! Christmas was magical! I had so much fun SKYPEing home! It was so good to see everyone! Best Christmas present ever. I'm so blessed to have such a happy, excited, vibrant, gospel loving family. Thank you for your encouragement and upliftment! I sure do love you guys!!!

So Christmas was fantastic, but that night Sister Clark started getting all achy and feverish. We talked to the Elders who gave us a ride to the Christmas party, and they were feeling the same way. I was still feeling good, but a little nervous, since everyone but me was not looking so good. The next morning we called Sister Ogden - we were her 10th phone call of the morning! Apparently about 1/3 of the mission is sick right now! A lot of it stemmed from the Christmas Eve party - one elder had swine flu! Yikes! And now 40 companionships are out of commission. I eventually got sick the following evening, but not as bad as everyone else. We have fevers, aches, and bad coughs. The branch president's wife, Sister Retallic, is taking us to the doctors today - Hooray! I imagine it will be a joyful time.....waiting in the health clinic, with lots of other sick friends.....she also made us soup and brought us some fruit and other things, which was a BIG help! We talked to Garry Barnes on the phone and he asked us what we needed - we almost had no food. He told us to give him a list of everything we needed or wanted. The next day he and his adorable family showed up with five grocery bags of food - they got all we asked for and more. So....we are staying alive, thanks to the Barnes and the Retallics - such kind people!

There's not much to report on since I've been stuck inside the flat for four days....it's realllllly interesting being sick on the mission. Activities: I read all my journals from the past year; wrote in my journal, listened to the mission Christmas CD on repeat for five to seven hours; learned how to play Backgammon; discussed Korea with Sister Clark; discussed the possibilites of having parcore as a secret talent; coughed; read the longest chapter in Jesus the Christ which included John the Baptist being beheaded, dodge about Mary Magdalene, and some speculation on Beelzebub; read almost the entire Christmas Ensign; looked at pictues; slept; found the courage to shower; read through the area book; made phone calls; made Sister Clark pinky swear that she would no longer support 'In and Out burgers' in an attempt to make BYU less main stream; listened to Brett Raymonds CDs (most kitchy LDS singer of all time-- does the sassy rendition of Book of Mormon stories on "Sounds for Sunday"). Wow! - long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long days. The best part is that Sister Clark sounds like a man when she talks, and I haven't worn make-up for days! Stick out your tongue and say yee-ha!

The church is still true. Please pray for the mission and us so that we will all be able to return to full health soon! We hope to get back out there to teach and preach and do as missionaries do as soon as possible! xoxoxo love, madie

Exercise and chocolate!

It is 23 degrees but feels even worse with all the damp air!!!! Ca-razy. Sister Clark and I salvaged a rowing machine and got special permission from president to wake up a half hour early and work out. We do this intense 15 min travel work out that grandma Sal sent and then we each take turns doing ten min of hard core rowing and stretch and do abs and all that stuff. Our downstairs neighbors/landlords asked if we could please row a little bit later in the morning than 6:00 AM, as their bedroom is right beneath the rowing machine?? So.... president approved us again to rearrange our schedule. Now we study from 6-8, then we work out, then we get ready for the day. A bit backwards, but it works, and our landlords gave us chocolate for being so complying. :)

Love is "owl" you need

Wow, sometimes it gets discouraging! We spend all of our time trying our best to help the members/less actives/investigators/random people, show our love, do what we can, but unfortunately, we are still 21 year old, we still are forgetful, and sometimes we don't realize that our best intentions are going awry. We sometimes get blamed for things that are truly out of our hands. Everyone expects us to be the epitome of missionary, and if we fall short, it really hurts us to get the brunt of it - especially when we are trying so hard and in no way ever trying to offend. If people are feeling guilty about something, about not keeping commitments, or their baptismal covenants, etc. we are def a blatant reminder. As we are representatives of the church, of God, of Christ I think for a lot of people we are a reminder of the things that they should be doing and unfortunately if people happen to be feeling guilty about it, many take out their frustrations, misconceptions, and hurt out on us. It's fine because I know that it's not ME they are rejecting, it's Jesus Christ, but still, it kind of stings, and even worse is that people are rejecting our Savior. We all want to be comfortable, to be able to turn on the heat by a switch, to have our dinner instantly ready, to have our days flow perfectly. The gospel is simple, but it requires our hearts, and that takes work. Christ only asked us to do a few things, and He has done everything else. It's not a lot, but it's a life that requires more strength, more purity, more integrity, more service. In return He gives us so much more. Of course we don't feel good when we fall short of our potential, but that's when we can't give up, (and hopefully not take it out on the poor, poor missionaries) heh heh. As a missionary I honestly do not care if people want to "convert" if they want to listen, if they want to take up their cross, if they want to choose a different way. What matters to me is having a good conversation with someone, hearing what they believe, sharing what I believe, coming away-both sides better for it. Missionaries invite, not convert. Only the spirit can do that to a willing heart. So give someone a break, don't be offended, no one truly tries to hurt another. That goes for any situation in life. But fear not! Because sometimes your fav little brother sends you a postcard of a picture with a purple owl that he crocheted, and then months later your mom sends you a fantastic home made card of an owl, and then you start drawing little owls, and when you go to decorate a cupcake for someone, you make a little owl. And then when you offer a former investigator a cupcake, that person connects with the one that looks like an owl, and later in the day you get a little text that says, “Wherever u are n whatever you may be doing. I thank you for me owl cake. Was much enjoyed.” So It’s always rewarding, no matter what.

A little bird told me......

You can read the Book of Mormon anywhere!

Madison is an Aunt

"I'm so excited about Morgan and Sadi and the baby! John Henry Pope - how adorable is he!!!!!! I love him so much!"

The higher law

The last mission president was very “law of Moses” (hard core rules and crazy numbers), but we are moving to the higher law. When I came in we still did some of the things he started - talk to someone within the first 10 min of leaving the flat, speak to 10 people a day, give out 10 books a week, and have 15 hours of finding. We've done this my whole mission. Last zone conference we dropped it. We were losing focus on the real purpose of doing these things. President Ogden told us, "You are not here to give out Book of Mormons. You are here to bring people to an understanding of the atonement of Jesus Christ." We are responsible for helping people feast upon the word, not just giving out an easy book with little thought to the poor Polish guy who doesn't really understand what you are saying but takes the book just so he can keep moving....It's pretty cool. The spirit is a lot stronger - the mission is changing. We are focusing on finding through the members. 1 in 3 member referrals get baptized. 1 in 1500 doors knocked gets baptized. 1 in 4 of those member referrals make it to the temple. 1 in 6,000 doors make it. wow. Life is pretty good - God is good! I'm grateful for everything. I love you guys tonz!

xoxo

mad skillz.