February Recap

Hello March! This month David and I celebrate 27 years of marriage. We are so blessed! But let's revisit February:

February started off with the SURF (Sweet, Unique, aRtsy Friends) Club Valentine's party. It was a lot of fun and 19 of my craft girls made it so it was my biggest craft party to date.

The girls made Valentine unicorns,

Froot Loop bird feeders,

Jolly Rancher lollipops,

Old fashioned Valentine cards,

Paper plate hearts,

And the older girls made mixed media hearts.

The girls surprised me with this giant Valentine's card. So sweet!

It's nice to be loved!

Marcus and I spent nearly all of February in Montana with David. This is where his job is currently and it's been challenging to live a part so I freed up five weeks for the three of us to be together. It's been so nice despite the freezing temperatures and the mounds of snow.

This is a picnic table in the backyard.

We have basically become hermits. :) Every morning David goes off to work, just a few blocks away, Marcus watches his online classes, and I lounge around the house. My friend Shelly calls this peaceful existence Hygge living. I wrote a post about it here. Besides housework which doesn't take me long in this one bedroom rental house, I've been reading, coloring, and making cards. And a little bit of binge watching (Hallmark channel).

On the weekends we've sometimes made a trip to Billings for a little bit of shopping. We bought Marcus an air mattress so he didn't have to sleep on the couch or floor, and we bought ourselves a mattress topper for the bed we're borrowing from David's mom (the mattress on it is rock hard and was hurting my back). David was very sweet one Saturday to find a Hobby Lobby for me so I could buy card making supplies. I also made each of my SURF Club girls Valentine cards and mailed them off.

And that was our February! Marissa is doing well on her mission and I hope you will check back to read her updates. She was able to video chat with us this week and that was so much fun. She elected not to write a group email, but promised one next week. 

If you're here PLEASE leave a comment!

Thank you,

Camie

Valentine Day Goodbyes (Mission Update)

Hello? Is anyone there? Here is the latest from the Sweetest Missionary Ever:


This week was a very busy week! But I don't have a lot of pictures so it's going to be a short email. 



It was Valentine's Day and we had a small FHE with the bishop's family. At this FHE we said goodbye to Hno Erick, a friend of the family. (I made him that painting.)

Then today we went to the Salt Mines! It was way fun. So pretty.

The salt mines are interesting. I'm not quite sure how it works, since we only went to walk around, but it's cool.

That's pretty much all for this week. Also, will you all pray for Hna Conde? Thanks! 

Love, Hna Madsen

February 18, 2019

She can't find pickles in Peru, and she loves pickles. So her dad sent her one in her Valentine's care package.

It's 8:30am and the rental house is quiet except for the sound of my typing and the furnace running. Marcus is still asleep upstairs in the attic-like space where he sleeps on an air mattress. David is at work, only a few blocks away. I'll wake him at 9 if he's not up by then, so he can be ready for his 9:30 history class (which will be online and filmed live). 

It is snowy and cold here and we only know one neighbor, Joyce. So we live like hermits here. I wrote about my hygge lifestyle on my other blog, which gets much more traffic than this one does. I feel like we don't have many extended family supporting us, and very few family-friends who will take an interest in my blogs, but if you are here, thank you! Would you please leave a comment? Just click on 'no comment' at the bottom of this post. Let me know if it won't let you comment. I am not completely in-the-know on how commenting works for those who not have a blogging profile.

But if you are here, Marissa would really appreciate hearing from you. She'd love to hear from anyone! You may write her an email at: marissa.madsen@myldsmail.net 

Although, I did notice that her last email has this addy: marissa.madsen@missionary.org 

So I guess either would work? I'll have to ask her about it next week. We are so excited that now we have all kinds of options for communicating with her on her p-days. We chatted through google hangouts this week. That was much faster than emailing back and forth. :)

Thanks for caring about us,

Camie

Surprises and Walking (Mission Update)

Wow! So much to tell you... well not really. What has happened? The truth not much. We've been getting to know the sector and walking a lot. Well, climbing mountains. Our sector is almost all mountain and we're either going up or down.

This is the trio is Cusco! Cusco is so pretty!

And here I am with a dog. He just came right up to me!

So on Saturday our pensionista couldn't be there for lunch and so they left us a surprise. They bought us chicken and her friend bought us ice cream! We were all so happy and surprised, we almost cried! 

Her friend left us a note in English. He knows English and often talks to us in English.

Yesterday we were walking and these group of kids were playing and started calling out "hello!" in English. Then they asked if we knew Spanish and I said yes and one of them just ran up and gave me a hug and then they all came and gave us hugs. It was so cute! 

Today is the birthday of Hna Robison! Feliz Cumpleaños Hermana!!!! 

And that was my week! I hope you all had a good week and this one is even better! Happy Valentine's Day! 

Love, Hermana Madsen

February 11, 2019

Moving, Baptism and Craziness (Mission Update)

Hello everyone! 

Not a lot has happened since the last email but I'll catch you up on these last couple of days. First off, we have a house! We moved into a new house and we are getting everything set up. 

We have all our stuff, we'll be cleaning and putting everything away! 

We have a cool shower head but no hot water, hopefully we'll have that fixed soon. I hope!   

Cusco is so pretty! We're starting to know our sector more and not get as lost. Still, it's all a process. We are finding news every day. And getting to know the members. 

Cusco is a blast! Our sector is all hills and stairs. Lots of climbing and lots of walking. Lots of dogs as well! Which I love but one of my companion Hermana Conde, does not like the dogs! I'm working on it.

For P-day last week we played bubble soccer. It was way fun!

Cusco at night is really pretty! I just love it.

We've been teaching a family. The parents are members. The mom is active but the day isn't and their two girls are not members. So we put a date on them to be babtised and one of them, Julieth, got baptised this Saturday! Her sister had to wait two weeks because her parents think she isn't prepared enough so we'll be working with her. The babtism was really pretty and it turned out really well!

This is us with Julieth. She is so cute and the best and has been waiting a long time to make this step! She was so happy! 

Love you all! Hermana Madsen

February 4, 2019
(Marissa did not write a group email last week)

Closing One Story and Opening Another (Mission Update)

Wow, lots to tell you! Where do I even start? There's been a lot of news. But I'll start with last week. 

So we got together as a district to make breakfast burritos and fudge. It was way fun! 

Then later that week, we got together with the other Hermanas in our sector to make these! (Look below) They were going to be for a contacting activity but we didn't do it, but we took photos, so here they are.

And now comes my big news. Transfers came! I will be leaving Juliaca to go back to Cusco! Not only that but my TWO new companions (Hna Robison and Hna Conde) and I are opening a new sector for the Hermanas. Cusco 2. We will be sharing a sector with Elders but this is the first time there has been Hermanas in this sector. We've already been meeting with the Bishop and some members. We have an appointment tonight and another one in a couple of days. It's going well. Our ward also held an English class so we went to help out and met some friends of members. The work is starting. 

I'm back in Cusco! Can't believe it!

Our trio.

Hna Conde and I. She's from Colombia.

Hna Robison and Hna Conde. We visited a museum today. 

I love Cusco and am glad to be back here! It's an amazing place. I am so happy to be working with these two amazing Hermanas. It's going to ba an adventure for sure! I'll keep you updated.

Love you! Hermana Madsen

January 24, 2019