Caden {8.11.14}

I wish I could lay out everything that happened this week! I want to start by saying Thank you for all of the birthday wishes. I got 4 amazing packages that just brightened my day so much and i also got a couple of cards that meant the world to me! The things I loved most had nothing to do with the money but just the love and meaning people put into things! I want to share a little experience with you. On my birthday Sister Shumway, our mission Presidents wife, called to wish me a happy Birth day. I knew the call was coming and I was very excited cause I already knew it was coming. She wished that we would find a new family to teach as she did my past companions. Well this was on Friday and we still needed two new investigators to hit our goals for that week! I told her that we WOULD find that family and bring them to the knowledge of the gospel. The next day we went on splits and we were going to contact a referral that we got from a nearby area. We also noticed that there was a less active member of the ward at the same address. So after much prayer and faith we went to this house to figure it all out. So far in my mission an out of area referral has not really gone anywhere. The people are just too nice to say "not interested" so we knocked on the door and to our surprise a young lady answered and said "please come in" we talked to them and without even teaching them a full lesson they expressed the spirit they felt from us and wanted to be baptized! It was a really cool experience. I had already planned on that happening because that is just how the Lord has worked for me in my mission. I called sister Shumway to tell her that i found the family of three (James-26, Kassie-23, and Sabrina-3months) and that they are going to be baptized and she caught me off guard with her reply. She said that she has not heard success reported back from that wish in a long time which is really sad! My message to all of you is that the Lord loves you all! He wants to help you so please lose your pride and realize you don't have to do it yourself! Just have a simple faith knowing that you can't do it without Heavenly Father and have the faith that if you need it you will get it. He is waiting to help you so let him! I love you all and i hope this little message will remind you that God Lives and so does his son Jesus Christ. And he lives so that we too can live. If you are lacking faith in anyway please get on your knees and talk to God and get the faith. We have to hit our knees to talk to God, and we have to hit the scriptures to hear his response! Love you ALL!

Elder Madsen.