Merry Christmas!

Christmas:

     On Christmas Eve we had lots of fun caroling at the Hospital! President Cottle encouraged us all to go as districts caroling, rather than knocking doors. A suggestion that Sister Ramdsen and I loved! We started at the hospital, just visiting a member of the stake, and then we decided to just stay there all night. We worked with a very helpful nurse who gave us lots of patients to sing to. (Sometimes it was because she knew they loved music, and sometimes it was because she thought they needed some Jesus) Only in Georgia. Sister Ramsden and I are the only sisters in our district so we pretty much carried all the elders while we sang. It was very fun!

     We also went to go visit Miss Ana and her son Edrick Bisher. We took them Sparkling grape juice and played games with them. We read the christmas story from Luke 2 and dressed up like the Nativity (pictures to come!). It was such a sweet way to end the night.

      Christmas day I got to skype mi familia. I love them :) We also visited some members and Less-active members. Helped them remember the Jesus-part of Christmas.

Thanks for all the cards and Christmas wishes! 

Warner Robins

I've been here almost 6 weeks already, but the area is fabulous. We are in a city, much like St George with how many stores there are. Nothing like tiny Thomson GA at all! We are also right next to a Military base, so there is a lot more diversity with all the people! Lots of asians, white folk, one or two hispanic here and there. There is also more diversity with religious beliefs. There still tons of baptists, but there are more people here who are not christian at all. And the housing is nicer. The people are richer (because they're in the military). Which is both a positive and a negative. It is not as easy to find people humble enough to teach.

I am the assigned driver, I like driving. Sister Ramsden doesn't like my driving, but that's okay. I drive like my dad.

We were blessed to have two baptisms on Saturday! (Dec 28th) Michelle Henson, and Ana Bisher. Its been a long journey for both of these ladies! We are so excited and happy for them :)

My favorite Mormon Message video! Origin.

http://www.mormonchannel.org/youth-videos?v=2505987918001

Change is in the Air

This is Kemyiah. She is 8. She will be getting baptized on November 9th! We are so excited for her :)

Here is a pic of us two with our Missionary name tags! She got hers from Primary :)

The leaves are changing colors! It is so pretty down here. It is also getting a lot colder. But no snow for us yet!

  I listened to Elder Nelson's talk this morning and I really liked it. Y'all should read it or re-read it!

Love Y'all!

All things point to Him

"...And all things denote there is a God..." :) Alma 30:44

 

     I really loved that verse as I was reading my Book of Mormon this morning. I thought about how yesterday I saw a beautiful pink flower and an amazing sunset. All things, especially beautiful things, denote there is a God. And He loves us so very much! I know that He loves me individually and has created things to add light and happiness to our lives. Such as that simple, single, pink flower that I saw as I was tracting. I don't know why, but it really did bring me joy.

 

Another verse from Chapter 30 also stuck out to me as I was reading today.

"And now what evidence have ye that there is no God, or that Christ cometh not? I say unto you that ye have none, save it be your word only." (v40)

 

    We have so much more evidence that there is a God than not. Einstein himself said "Perfect Science proves there is God". Many can try and try to prove otherwise, but have you noticed, how unhappy they make themselves?

    I know with my whole heart that God exists, and He has a Son, Jesus the Christ, who came to earth and suffered for our sins; that we may have peace, that we may be happy, than man might be and have joy!

I've never been happier in all my life :)

 

Love yall!

Sister Madsen

Conference Weekend! :D

I loved conference this weekend!

While many of the speakers said things that touched me; the talks by

Sister Bonnie L Oscarson and Richard J Maynes addressed and confirmed many of the thoughts I have had since before my mission. I wish to share these thoughts with you all this morning :)

Sister Bonnie Oscarson began her talk with the statement: "If you do not have a testimony of the church, now is the time to do what it takes to find that testimony!"

A couple thoughts crossed my mind when I heard that statement. First, she is right. NOW is the time for us todevelop our testimonies, because, as Elder Ochoa expressed, "The perilous times are now upon us!" At a younger age, children need to find their faith because of how crazy the world is becoming! 

My next thought was a question: How do we find our testimony? I then thought about the word 'find'. It is a doing word. To develop faith we must act. I believe the word "faith" to be an action word, a verb. If we wish to have a stronger testimony then we must exercise faith to obtain it. 

"Dedication"

"Perseverance"

 and "Self-discipline"

are verbs that Richard J. Maynes says will help us find and strengthen our testimonies. The best way to gain a testimony of somebody is to LIVE it, according to Sister Oscarson. What better way to gain a testominy of Christ and His gospel than to live it? 

Sister Oscarson challenged us to choose a principle of the gospel and apply it more fully to our lives. If our desire is to know/become like Christ, then we must emulate the characteristics that He has.

Hope

Charity

Love

Virtue

Patience

Diligence

Obedience

All of these attributes of Christ are action words!

As Elder Maynes discussed how we can keep our testimonies in shape, I was reminded of the famous Nike catch-phrase "Just Do it". This gospel is a doing-thing! I will be working harder to live the things taught in church so that I can have a stronger testimony of it. I invite all to join me :) We are promised that as we strive to "Develop spiritual stamina," then we will find peace and strength to endure any trial given to us, which is something that we all need to face these perilous times that are upon us!

I know that is true. I love you all! Have a fabulous week!

-Sister Madsen

Met the Mission Pres. on J-Day :D

This week has been pretty eventful. We got to see our dear President and Siste Cottle :) We love seeing them because they're like our parents away from home. They love us like we're their own children and we love them back :)

We also had companion exchanges this week. That's where we trade companions with another set of sisters for 24 hours. I always learn a lot about how to be a better missionary/teacher on exchanges. I went to work in their other area and we saw lots of little miracles. I always love my assigned companion even more after exchanges too :)

We are so fortunate in this area, because we have a member who likes to come out with us as much as he can. He is going to the mission field soon and he wants to do as much missionary work as he can before he gets there! Its so wonderful because he knows everyone in the area, so the people are more receptive to us. His testimony is a great addition to our lessons as well. I know that we have seen God's work unfold here at a faster pace because of his help!

The three of us like to wear our glasses to work because it makes us look smarter, haha. We call ourselves the "Four-eyed Three Amigos".

Hope you all are doing well this week! If you didn't get to watch the Relief Society Broadcast, I highly recommend it. Even if you're not a part of the Relief Society :)

Here's a link:

http://www.lds.org/broadcasts/archive/general-relief-society-meeting/2013/09?cid=HPTH091213087&lang=eng

Scripture of the week: D&C 88:115

This week has been exciting, yet uneventful. We did lots of work trying to find more people to teach. I know that God is really in this work, because everything that happens is all because of Him! We found much success this week, I am so excited!

Scripture of the week : Ether 12:6

We recieve a witness only after the trial of our faith. We must first have faith, and then we will see miracles!

Example: The apostles first had to believe that Christ was really risen from the dead before He appeared to them.

Song of the week: "Let it Begin" from the 20-something EFY soundtrack. Yall can youtube it or something :)

Love yall!

Go Break a Bow

This week Sister Turner and I have been focusing on finding more people to teach. We are working with some really really sweet people, we love them! So we hope to find more just like them.

I will send yall some pictures of the scenery over here. It is so pretty! There are so many green trees it blows my mind! ...And sometimes I feel a little claustrophobic because I can't see past all the trees... but then I get over it.

Haha, this week I also read about how When Nephi and his family were in the wilderness they started to experience some hardships. And then Nephi broke his bow; "..which was made of fine steel" he points out, Haha. And Nephi was the only one who wasn't complaining about the conditions. So we have this running joke about how that must have been therapeutic for him.

"Oh, go break a steel bow and get over it."

Anyways... Fall is coming! So all the tall trees will be changing colors! I can't wait to see how everything looks. We are in the country in this area, so when we drive anywhere it is always quite nice. Very scenic ;)

Thank you for all your constant letters - I love you!

God Bless ;)

 

Pain is Simply Weakness Leaving the Body

Thanks to everyone for all your love and birthday wishes!

We are working with some awesome people right now. A young man in the ward is home from his mission for a few months, and he is helping us with the work so much! He wants to continue being a missionary while he is home until he can go back to the field. It is so great because he knows everyone, He likes to go tracting with us and he even sets up appointments for us and brainstorms ideas to get the members more involved with growing their ward. He is a perfect example of a Member Missionary!

 

So my mission president, President Cottle, challenged us to read the Book of Mormon again in 90 days. We are also supposed to choose a special topic to look for and highlight while we study. After much deliberation, I chose to study about "Strength". It seems that finding strength has been a recurring theme for myself and those I am working with so far in my mission. This morning I read a verse in 1 Nephi that I liked;

"If it so be the children of men keep the commandments of God, He doth nourish them andstrengthen them." (1 Nephi 17:2-3,13)

I liked this verse a lot because it reminded me of a talk given in our sacrament meeting yesterday. The talk was on Keeping the Commandments, and how when we keep those commandments we are showing our faith. We are truly living our religion and that is the evidence of it. The speaker said: "If in a court of law you are accused of being a Mormon, would there be enough evidence to convict you?"

Well, would there be enough evidence? I hope so.

I know that if we strive to keep the commandments we are strengthened by the Lord. God also promises that He will prepare a way for us to always fulfill what is asked of us.

 

My love to all of you always <3

Sis Madsen

Trials and Potential

So this past week I have done a lot of traveling and we got to meet Elder Giddens of the Seventy, cool eh?? It seems like a lot of my study and training has been centered around the same message, and I would love to share that with you. Please read, and don't write anything off because it comes from a missionary.

I've been thinking a lot about trials and how we handle them. I've also been thinking a lot about how God expects us to handle them. Sometimes they are two very different things.

Sometimes we can see the blessings at the end of our trials, and sometimes we can't even understand why we've been given them.

Sometimes we think that if we pray hard enough, God will relieve us of our trials. Sometimes it's that easy. Just an act of faith.

Sometimes it's not.

Sometimes, God tells us "No, I cannot take this trial from you, not because I don't love you, but because I love you too much to limit your potential.

We need our trials, without them we would be weak! Physically, when we are sick and weak we are not happy. We are much more confident in ourselves when we are healthy and strong. God helps us to be strong, so that we can have that happiness and confidence, and ability to perform more because of our strength.

He knows our potential. Like a good personal trainer He helps us build up our muscles. He gives us only what we can handle, but enough to make us sweat, to make us stretch ourselves past what we think our limits are. We don't stop doing pushups when we start to get tired. We do those pushups until our arms feel like they're going to fall off! That is how we become stronger.

Sometimes we are only asked to do 5 more pushups, sometimes its 500 more. What I have come to understand is, God doesn't like comfort zones.

Do we trust our Trainer? Do we perform what is asked of us? Do we beg for Him to let us take a break, or do we quit entirely? Quitters are weak. They will never grow, and they will never fullfil their potential.

The purpose of our life here on earth is to grow, develop, and be strengthened through our experiences. How do we do this? The scriptures tell us: "wait upon the Lord".

What does it mean to wait upon the Lord? The word 'wait' means to 'hope', 'to anticipate', and 'to trust'; to endure to the end, "with great diligence and patience".

We may not understand our trials, we may still have reason to ask: "O God, where art Thou?" We may be as Job, who lost all his possessions, his land, home, animals, family, reputation, physical health, and even mental well-being. Yet he waited upon the Lord and bore a powerful testimony: “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.. And though worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”

“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” 

Sometimes, life just sucks! It is incredibly hard. We feel like our arms are going to fall off at any second. But I know that you are not alone, your arms are still intact, you may not recognize it, but Christ is right there next to you, and he is pretty buff because he's done this workout before. He won't let you fall!

Dont leave the gospel when times get tough! We may feel weak, but we are never alone.

"I CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST, WHICH STRENGHTENETH ME".

I love you too much to limit your potential.

.

~Sister Karely Madsen

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2011/10/waiting-upon-the-lord-thy-will-be-done?lang=eng

photo of entire mission with Elder Anderson

2 For 1

Hey Everyone!

A lot happened this week! I orginially was going to write it out for yall but I decided to just attach my recordings for this week to my blog instead. Less writing.

I studied a talk by Elder Neil L Anderson the other day and I really like it. Yall should take a minute and read it, okay? Okay. Here are some of my favorite highlights though:

Concerning our trials, Peter wrote: "Think it not strange, concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you." (1Peter 4:6)

"When faced with a trial of your faith, Don't step away from the church! ...Distancing yourself from the Kingdom of God during a trial of your faith is like leaving the safety of a storm cellar just as the tornado comes into veiw.

Stay within the safety and security of the household of God. There is always a place for you here."

John 14:18 "I will not leave you comfortless; I will come to you."

I also love John 14:27 :)

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/trial-of-your-faith?lang=eng

An Elder said something funny the other day;

"Anyone can eat when they're hungry, it takes a real man to eat when he's full!"

I guess they must get a lot of member dinners! ;)

Thank you all for your letters and support!

Special thanks to my fam and Shelby :)

Ps, I got letters from Grandma, Lizzy, Shell, and Emilee this week, thank you! You are so cute! I will write back soon :)

~Sis Karely Madsen

First baptism! Keith Finney. August 3, 2013 :)

Just Squash Him!

Satan does not cause our trials.

He comes while we are in the middle of them, when we are at our lowest, to see if we will follow him.

How pathetic is it that he must target us when we are weak, because he does not stand a chance against us when we are strong!

 

Moses 4:20-21

"And I, the Lord God, said unto the serpent: Because thou hast done this thou shalt be cursed...and upon thy belly thou shalt go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life;

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between thy seed and her seed; And he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."

 

Just Squash Him!

I Will.

"I made my choice.

I mark this day,

The day I pledge to take His name.

I will stand

I will not fall

In a world that's weak

I will be strong.

I'll be true

I will choose His way

I know what's right and I will not change.

In a world where so many will not,

I will!"

 

I love this song! As I help others prepare for baptism I am reminded of the promises we make when we are baptized. I am recommited to follow through on my part and I know that I will be blessed with the strength to do so! --In a world when so many will not, I WILL!

 

Philippians 4:13

2 Nephi 31

Mosiah 18:8-10 (our baptism covenants)

 

Covenant: a two-way promise with our Heavenly Father

Happy 4th!!

Happy Independence Day!

Did you know the Revolutionary War was prophesied to occur 592 years before Christ was even born?

The American prophet Nephi saw Columbus and the Revolution. Check out 1 Nephi 13:12-20 (pg24 and 25 in the Book of mormon) Nephi knew that the Americas are the Promised Land talked about in the bible and that it was necessary for the inhabitants thereof to have freedom, the ability to use their agency to worship God as they wish.

Because of the Freedom of Religion the book of Mormon was able to be brought forth as a second witness of Jesus christ to prove that Christ's teaching really are the same yesterday, today, and forever! At no other time and in no other place in the world could this be done. I am very grateful for those who died so that we may exercise our freedom; and I am ever so grateful for those who died and sealed their testimonies of the Book of Mormon with their blood so that we may still have it today and be able to make  more informed choices!

God Bless America!

Choose the right :)

 - Sister Madsen

Week 4: Hope

Christ said " I am the Light of the world."

And He is! Literally, and spiritually. He created the sun, and without Him we would have no hope.

3 Nephi 9:18, John 8:12

 

A conference talk I like is about Hope and God's light. It is entitled "The Hope of God's Light" by President Dieter F Uchtdorf. I will attach a link to it at the bottom, I strongly encourage all of you to read it! I love this talk because there really is hope in the world. Even when we feel dark and completely alone, there is still hope! And that is because of Christ. He went lower than any man ever could, so that He may be with us as we face our trials. And He is, He is ALWAYS with us! We can be healed if we just turn to Christ and rely on Him, for He said: " I am the Light which shineth in the darkness." President Uchtdorf said: "God's light is real. It is availiable to all! It gives life to all things. It has the power to soften the sting of the deepest wound... The darkness may not dissapate all at once, but as surely as night always gives

way to dawn, the light will come!"

Family and friends, there is hope! Trust in Christ and let His light replace any darkness in your soul! The darkness will surely fade, because it cannot exist in the presence of light! You are a child of God. Rise up and become the person you were designed to be!

PS: There's another Sis. Madson in my mission! Cool, eh?

I love you all!!

~Sister Madsen

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng

**Due to her switch into the Geargia Mission, Karely has a new address. Check out the 'Write Me?' page**

 

I Know

So guess what,

1. God is real.

2. Jesus Christ is His Son.

3. Christ's church is on the Earth today!

4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the ONLY true and complete church on the earth and Christ Himself is at the head of it!

I know this with every fiber of my being, and I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to share this wonderful news with the world!
What would YOU do to be a part of this church?

www.mormon.org

Love you all!

~ Sister Karely Madsen

* Letters and packages can still be mailed to the SC address, I'll update that when it changes. Also, all packages have to be sent priority mail or else it can take months for Sis Madsen to receive them. *

   

MTC

 East Coast Sisters

Georgia peaches ↑

Karely's apartment  ↓

Moving South

Hey Everyone!

I made it through the MTC training and got to South Carolina last week. The South is great! It's so green over here, and it is more humid, but I like it. It feels good on my dry Utah skin ;)

There's been a change in my mission. The South Carolina mission is losing the area in Georiga that it covers. Georgia is opening a new mission, and any missionaries that are serving in the GA area will become a part of that mission.

I was assigned to work in Augusta, Georgia. So as of July 1st, I am no longer in Carolina! I'm a part of the new Georgia Macon Mission.

The people here are great! Everyone is very nice and well-mannered. I love it :) Except they're nice even if they dont want to talk to us, so sometimes its hard to tell if people are really interested or not. But most of the time they are :D
Yeah, it's hard to be a missionary, but also easy. You just have to walk around and tell people the truth. I mean, they're sending teenagers all over the world to do it! The only hard part is constantly stopping to shove Satan out of the way ;) It's more annoying, actually.

I'm embracing the Southern accent, Most of the people dont talk with a heavy accent, but there are still some unique phrases that are fun to say.

I'll write more next week, thank you to e'eryone for your love and support!
Y'all Have a Blessed Day!

Much Love! Sister Madsen

Summer Reading?

Looking for a good book to read this summer? I recommend this one!! It's my favorite :)

 

 

And thanks to Chelsea for taking these pictures :)

My Farewell

First, I want to thank everyone who came and supported me this weekend! You all mean so much to me!
Ps, Shleb is so awesome! And adorable :) She had the idea to post my farewell talk on here.... Alright. Here it is :)

My Farewell Talk – Strengthening our relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ – 5.26.13

In conference, Elder Uchtdorf once spoke about a legendary football coach, Vince Lombardi, who was known for a ritual that he would perform with his team on the first day of every season. He would hold up a football and say “Gentlemen… this is a football!” And then proceed to explain all the ways one holds, throws, and runs with a football. Then he would point to the field, and say “This is a football field!” He would walk them around; describe the dimensions, the shape, the rules, and how the game is played.

Even though he was working with very experienced athletes, Coach Lombardi knew that the team could only become great by mastering the fundamentals. Just as a new football team has the goal to win all the games and become a championship team, we have a great goal in life; that is, to live as righteously as we can and return to our Heavenly Father and dwell with Him. But how can we expect to meet this ultimate goal if we have not mastered the fundamentals? The basics, such as reading our scriptures, prayer, baptism, serving others, living the commandments...etc. There are a few of them; but most basic thing we need to establish before we can effectively strive to accomplish our life goal, is to have a strong, and personal relationship with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. How can we be motivated to work towards spending our eternity with someone that we do not know? This is what I would like to discuss with you today.

President James E Faust said: “We may not feel a closeness with Him because we think of Him as being far away, or our relationship may not be sanctifying because we do not think of Him as a real person.”

But our Heavenly Father is a real person. He has a body of flesh and blood, just like we do. He created our bodies in His image for us. Just like we have a father here on earth, He is our Father in Heaven. He loves us, He watches over us, and He wants us to be happy. He may seem far away but He is closer than you think. We can feel of his presence and of His love for us through the Holy Ghost, and we can directly talk to Him through prayer.

Evaluating our relationship:

We can evaluate how close we are to our Heavenly Father by asking these questions:

Do I pray? If so, how often? How sincere? You’re not going to have a relationship with someone you don’t talk to.

Is it a one-sided conversation? Or do I also listen for His response?

Do I trust Him? Once again, it’s hard to be in a relationship with someone that you can’t rely on.

Do I recognize His influence in my life? Do I trust that He knows me best and that He knows what is best for me?

Our Heavenly Father loves us very much, He only wants what is best for us. He gave us our lives and our bodies. He wants us to live with Him again, but we are not perfect; so He also sent us Jesus Christ as a Savior, to suffer the punishments for all our mistakes, so that it may be possible for us to return to Him.

How can we strengthen our relationship?

Pray, if you’re not already doing it. If you are, pray more often, and more sincerely. Thank Him for the things that He gives you. Recognize His hand in your life.

If we haven’t prayed for a while, we may feel out of practice or unworthy to pray. But those feelings are from Satan. He does not want us to pray. Last Sunday I learned  that the first action a General will take in a war is to mess up the enemy’s communication lines. By doing this, the enemy cannot effectively organize themselves and work together to defeat their opponent. Satan tries to impair our communication lines with God by making us feel unworthy to pray.

In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Nephi says: “For if ye hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray. But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint;” (2Nephi 32:8-9)

I know that Heavenly Father always hears our prayers. Even if we haven’t prayed for a long time, He will still listen, and He will answer us. We must always be working to build our relationship with Him so that we can interpret the answers that He gives us.

Read the scriptures. Elder Robert D. Hales said: “When we want to speak to God, we pray. When we want Him to speak to us, we read the scriptures.”

The scriptures are the words of God. What better way to come to know Him than by studying His word? In the scriptures we are given instructions on how to live our lives so that we can return to Him. They testify of Jesus Christ, God’s son, who He sent to show us how we are supposed to live. By studying the scriptures we can learn more about God’s nature, what He expects of us, and what we can expect of Him. We will feel closer to Him by reading our scriptures every day.

Go to church. Show your love by attending church and worshipping Him. We can also learn more about Him, His nature, and His plan for us.

Be worthy to attend the temple; it is the House of the Lord. How much closer can we get to being in God’s presence than at the temple? In the Doctrine and Covenants it says “I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house. Yea, I will appear unto my servants, and speak unto them with mine own voice, if my people will keep my commandments, and do not pollute this holy house. Yea the hearts of thousands and tens of thousands shall greatly rejoice in consequence of the blessings”. (D&C 110:7-9)

Often serve others. In Matthew it says “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” By serving others we are also serving Christ. We will come to know Him and feel of His love for those that we are serving, as well as His love for us.

If we will do these simple things that we have been taught all our lives (pray, read our scriptures, go to church, serve others) then we will feel our relationship with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ grow. We will feel of Their love for us; and we will also feel our testimonies increase. We will greatly look forward to that day when we can finally see Them face to face, and live with Them for eternity. President Ezra Taft Benson once said: “Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar His face is to us”.

These things I know
 

I know that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ real beings! They love us so much! All they want is for us to be successful in this life so we can all live together again. I know that families are eternal, thanks to the blessings of the temple.

I know this is the only true and complete church of Jesus Christ on the earth. It was restored through Joseph Smith, who I know was called of God at this time for a reason. I know that Joseph Smith received revelation from God to translate the Book of Mormon and direct the reorganization of His church.

I know that the Book of Mormon is true. It is a second witness of Jesus Christ; to be used with the Bible, and not against it. I am grateful for the things we can learn about the people of the Americas before, during, and after Christ’s life on earth in the Book of Mormon.

I know all these things and so much more; from the bottom of my heart! I am so grateful for the opportunity to share these things and the great Joy that this gospel brings me with the wonderful people in South Carolina!

 

--Karely Madsen

A Little Background

Shleb here.

I am the one who will be keeping you updated on all the amazing adventures Karely has while on her mission. I’m probably not supposed to post anything til she actually leaves…. But where’s the fun in that?? :)

As friends or relatives of our dear future Sis. Madsen, I wouldn’t be surprised if you have no clue who I am. And guess what? That’s alright :) The only thing you need know is that I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to become good friends with Karely as we shared an apartment our freshman year at SUU. Roommates can do a lot to change or reinforce one’s perspectives, and Karely definitely did that for me. I just want to say thank you. Thank you for always being friendly, loving, compassionate, selfless, grateful, and looking for the good in others. Through your example I have learned to be more patient and caring.

Karely, you’re dedicated and I love that about you. I know without a shadow of a doubt that the people in South Carolina will be blessed because of you (and you by them!!). There are people and experiences there that are meant for you and you alone, and I am confident that this will be some of the best 18 months of your life. Sure, it’ll be a challenge, but it will also be oh so rewarding. I believe in you and love you, as do all the people in your life. You got this!! :D

Love ya!!!