"Can I get one of those?"

[Here is Madsen’s letter from this week]

Alright here goes the real fun of the week😉

This week was pretty jam packed with stuff. It gets really tough to remember everything that happens in a week even when I write about it in my journal. Tuesday we got to go to dinner and have a lesson with Bobby, it's so amazing to see how much happier he is now that he has the gift of the Holy Ghost. On Wednesday we went to the Saddleback College campus with a bunch of missionaries and walked around to invite people to come to a free lunch and a class about Christ at the institute building. While we were walking around a kid came up to us and said "can I get one of those?" pointing to The Book of Mormon in my hand so we gave it to him and then he wanted to know more so we taught him the Restoration lesson and taught him a lot more about The Book of Mormon. It was cool to see somebody ask for it and teach them instead of finding people and trying to talk to them. On Thursday we met with Ross again, we can't wait for his baptism so we can see how much happier he becomes and then in years time if he goes on a mission like he wants to. On Friday we spent the day in San Clemente which is by far my favorite part of my area. We walked out on the pier and it was so cool to look back at the beach. We talked to a ton of members on vacation who were hanging out there and then got free clam chowder from a random guy in a store there who knew we were missionaries. As we were leaving the missionaries covering the San Clemente area called us and told us they had two investigators for us who had baptismal dates! We met with them on Saturday and they are super solid and excited to learn more. On Saturday the best thing happened! President Lutz, one of the members of the mission presidency, met with Cam and approved his baptism!!!!!! He was so happy afterwards so that should be happening this month and we can't wait. Yesterday I had an email from the church with a referral and we also contacted one of the investigators from San Clemente and scheduled times to meet with him which was cool.

One of the lessons that got reinforced for me was the power of fasting and prayer especially when people are united in it. On Saturday as a district we fasted for all of our investigators and that day everything with Cam got worked out and then a potential investigator responded to us. Then I fasted again on Sunday and was especially fasting that we could find somebody new to teach and that's when we got in contact with Paul and got the new referral. I know that our Heavenly Father and loves us and wants to help us with things we need but we first have to ask him and then when we sacrifice even more and fast he sees how much we want it. I love being a missionary and helping so many people and learning all the time. Even right now at institute we have a less active member of our ward who has been slowly coming back and meeting with us who now has a ton of friends here and it's so amazing to see the happiness back in his life and his willingness to meet with us from where he started out not wanting to talk to the past missionaries. I know this church is true and that we are led by a modern day Prophet. I love this work, and these people are good and I need to be with them!

Love

Elder Cheever