Week 67- Recovering from Surgery

Hahahaha I broke my arm.

I have been so blessed
to have been surrounded by so many wonderful people throughout
all of this. To start, my companion is one of the most selfless people
ever. In fact, before, I had to set boundaries with her and often comp
inventories were "stop doing everything for me!" My mother was wise
when she advised me to "graciously allow others to serve [me]" at this
time. It has been humbling, and my companion has had no problem with
it. Additionally I'm grateful for wonderful people like Miss Donna,
and all the members who have taken care of me in some way. Above all
I'm grateful for a wonderful mission president and his wonderful wife.
They have done more than I can describe. It's a privilege to serve and
I think that, with love, service is what it's all about. We are here to
develop the character of Christ, so we must constantly turn outwards
and look for the small ways we can serve others.

We were riding our bikes home last Monday night and I was going
downhill and hit some uneven sidewalk and was flipped over the handle
bars of my bike. Haha I saw my arm brake in the process. I'm lucky it
wasn't worse. My companion came whizzing behind me and she claims she
ran over my hair.
We were at the ER until about 1 am. They told me I needed surgery and
basically there wasn't anything they could do until then. So they
wrapped it up, broken.  On Tuesday I was grateful to get in with an
orthopedic first thing in the morning, and then we had lunch with Miss
Donna.  We tried to teach, but by 4 pm I was done and just went home
and cried it hurt so bad. I later received a priesthood blessing from
my branch president. On Wednesday we had district meeting and all the
elders gave me a blessing. Then we went to the surgeon. I feel
extremely blessed because I get to stay and finish my mission.
Normally with a procedure like this, and with especially how little I
have left on the mission they would have sent me home. I have been
blessed however for my diligence and obedience. Because of that, the
mission president wanted to keep me. And it probably only happened
because I had said I wanted to stay until December. If I were going
home in October I bet they would have just sent me home.
My biggest concern was about how the work would continue. We were
barely opening the area for sisters and we didn't have enough Spanish
sisters for someone to replace me. Thankfully we had a visa waiter in
Mexico get her visa! She arrived on Wednesday just in time to replace
me. On Thursday my mission President's wife took me to a surgical center where
they fixed my arm. I even had a visitor that knew me from when I was 

little, Rebecca Castleton!

 And I've been really just staying at the mission
President's place since. They put in a plate and 8 screws. I've been
better but I could be worse. Haha I went to church and a baptism
yesterday. That wiped me out. I'm hoping it's not much longer before I
get back to work. Until then ..... I'm catching up on years of general
conference.


Thank you so much for all the kind notes and emails. They have really
lifted my spirits.
It's kind of funny, just last Monday I wrote about sacrifice and how
the Lord asks us to sacrifice our will for his. When I saw my arm
brake my first thought was of Elvira and how when she was baptized she
said "Sea tu voluntad". "Thy will be done."

At first when I was sitting on the sidewalk holding my broken arm, I
admit I was a little confused. Was I not obedient enough? Maybe if I'd
prayed more. I should've said an extra prayer and this wouldn't have
happened. But then I thought of this little line from Mosiah 3:19
which says "willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit
to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." The
fact is we live in a fallen world and trials come to everyone. I think
about the people in 4th Nephi who had 200 years of peace. Just because
they were so happy, I don't think it means they had 200 trial free
years. When we have the companionship of the Holy Ghost our hearts are
prepared and we are better able to confront whatever life throws at
us. I have a better understanding of that now. While this hasn't been
a pleasant week, I have felt peace and happiness from His spirit. I
have felt peace and joy while in times of trial and testing. That is
the promise of this gospel. That's why what we do is so important.
This peace and joy I feel can only come from the gift of the Holy
Ghost which is only possible through sacred ordinances performed by
the proper priesthood authority of God, which was restored by the
prophet Joseph Smith. I am able to feel Christ's complete succor (alma
7:11-14) because I have completely come unto Him. His gospel didn't
stop at faith and repentance for me. Because of the restored
priesthood I was baptized by the proper authority and have been given
the gift of the Holy Ghost. Each week I continue to practice faith and
repentance so I can come to church ready to renew those promises I
made at baptism, so I can have the promise of His spirit when I
partake of the sacrament, performed by the proper priesthood
authority. I know that this gospel is true. I know that God lives and
Jesus Christ is His son, our Savior and Redeemer.  I love this gospel
and I love this work. I hope to be back at it soon enough. 🙃

I love and miss you! Thank you for everything!
Love,
Hermana Wallis

The fixed arm!

Sister Greenman, Madeleine and the new missionary from Mexico

Bicycle accident and broken arm

This is a letter we received from a wonderful woman in Madeleine's mission, describing the bicycle accident she had last evening.  This lady is truly an angel from heaven:)

Hi Folks,

Thought you might like more details on the events of last night.   The girls called me immediately after Sister Wallis fell.  I jumped in the car and headed out to get them.  At the same time a biker on the other side of the road had seen the accident.  Now...the amazing part...his first thought was...girls on bikes in dresses....they must be Sister Missionaries.  He got across the street at the same time the girls got off the phone with me.  Not sure what all the conversation was but he knew the girls would need help getting their bikes back to their apartment.  His Mom was not far away at the store and she said she would come with her truck and help the girls.  Small world....they are Mormon...In fact they had just had Elders to their house last night for dinner.  They brought the bikes and I took the girls to their apartment to get their car.  Super nice people...the Mom served a mission when she was young.

The girls didn't leave for the hospital until after 9:00 pm.  They were there until around 4:00 am.  I'm sure you have an update on Sister Wallis' condition.   We had already had plans to have lunch today and they still wanted to go.  We met a out  12:30 and had a nice lunch.  Sister Wallis insisted that she didn't need to rest so they were proceeding with their scheduled lessons this afternoon.   I am sure they will both be crashing early tonight.

At the time they didn't know whether the surgery would be done here or back home.  She really wanted to stay so I was so glad when they called later this afternoon to say she would be staying.  I plan to go to the hospital with them and be there through the surgery and for whatever they need.  They are going to call me tomorrow after they meet with the surgeon with details and we can make plans.  If there is anything I can do they know all they have to do is call.  I live very close to their apartment.

I am sending a separate email with pictures.  Also, a text so you can see and hear that they are fine.

I know how hard this must be,  it please know that I will do whatever they need to get through this.

Sincerely, Donna

Subject: Pictures Sister Wallis picked these...thought her brothers would really like the X-rays

Week 66-Roswell, GA, Spanish Speaking

Things have been so good. I love this branch. Really, it's been like a
dream come true.

Yesterday we got to bare our testimonies in sacrament meeting. I told
the story about Irma and her conversion. Anyways while up there I
could see everyone. This woman who lives in Roswell, but comes here
had brought a friend to church. So immediately after sacrament meeting
I grabbed my companion to go meet her.
The friend recognized me! I had tracted into her before! It wasn't
until her member friend talked with her that she came to church. The
member was working in the nursery, so we took her friend to Sunday
school. When we got there, there was no one. So we decided to just
teach her the class! Haha The lesson was on sacrifice. It talks about
how back in the Old Testament times, the people had to sacrifice their
best animal, but after Jesus Christ came we no longer have to do that
because He is the Ultimate sacrifice.
3 Nephi 9:
18 I am the light and the life of the world. I am Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and the end.

19 And ye shall offer up unto me no more the shedding of blood; yea,
your sacrifices and your burnt offerings shall be done away, for I
will accept none of your sacrifices and your burnt offerings.

20 And ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken heart and a
contrite spirit. And whoso cometh unto me with a broken heart and a
contrite spirit, him will I baptize with fire and with the Holy Ghost,
even as the Lamanites, because of their faith in me at the time of
their conversion, were baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, and
they knew it not.

21 Behold, I have come unto the world to bring redemption unto the
world, to save the world from sin.

      22 Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little
child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold,
for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again;
therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved.

She then asked what a "broken heart and contrite spirit" are and we
talked about how
"The submission of one’s will is really the only uniquely personal
thing we have to place on God’s altar,” said Elder Neal A. Maxwell
(1926–2004) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “The many other
things we ‘give’ … are actually the things He has already given or
loaned to us. However, when you and I finally submit ourselves, by
letting our individual wills be swallowed up in God’s will, then we
are really giving something to Him! It is the only possession which is
truly ours to give!”

And
"The healing of our heart begins when we submit to and worship God.
True worship begins when our hearts are right before the Father and
the Son. What is our heart condition today? Paradoxically, in order to
have a healed and faithful heart, we must first allow it to break
before the Lord. “Ye shall offer for a sacrifice unto me a broken
heart and a contrite spirit,” the Lord declares. The result of
sacrificing our heart, or our will, to the Lord is that we receive the
spiritual guidance we need. With a growing understanding of the Lord’s
grace and mercy, we will find that our self-willed hearts begin to
crack and break in gratitude. Then we reach for Him, yearning to yoke
ourselves to the Only Begotten Son of God. In our brokenhearted
reaching and yoking, we receive new hope and fresh guidance through
the Holy Ghost." Neil F. Marriott

She said, "that's something I want!" So we invited her to be baptized.
She's planning on September 17.

This week was incredible as well. While visiting Maria (our favorite
:)) she expressed how she was scared to die and how sad she is about
all of the war that is going on in the world. She is amazing and loves
serving everyone. (Literally, she has rooms of clothes she plans on
taking back to Mexico and was so concerned about what she could do for
Syria.) but her concerns were very real and causing her a lot of
anxiety. Finally we were able to sit her down and read some scriptures
with her such as Romans 8:28, revelations 21:3-4, And Alma 40:11-13,
23. And We talked about how this life here is such a short part of our
eternal existence. It was amazing to just see her body filled with
relief. Especially as she told us, "I remember the elders talking
about this! Now I understand."
 I know that God has a plan for each of us and that we are all here as
a part of His Great plan of happiness. It isn't easy, because quite
frankly, it wasn't meant to be. But I know that because of Jesus
Christ, all of the wrongs in the world will be made right for those
that Love Him and Follow Him.
This is an amazing work.
I love and miss you!
Love,
Hermana Wallis

Ps. Members made us leave with their coats because it was raining so hard.
Also, I have never been given so much food in my entire life. (This is
all from yesterday.)
Kind of looks like we just robbed the area...

Madeleine would love to hear from you madeleine.wallis@mldsmail.net

Week 65- Roswell, GA, Spanish Speaking

Ok! To start lets just pick up on that woman we were working with last
week. (The one with the flowers) So we visited her yesterday to go
visit her neighbor she wanted us to teach, but unfortunately her
neighbor wasn't home. So she just kept on trying to take us to her
other neighbors! But none of them were home. Then it came down to this
American woman. Our friend told us, "She's American, but you speak
English. I bet she'll accept the gospel." So she knocked on the door
and sure enough this beautiful blond woman greeted us with a big smile
and said "come in!" Then our friend started introducing us in English,
"these are the sisters from my church" the blond smiled and nodded and
finally piped in "Maria! We go to the same church!" She then proceeded
to tell us how she joined the church when she married her second
husband, but when they divorced she fell away for 20 years. Then just
three years ago she came back to church and since has gone through the
temple (and continues to go) thanks to dedicated home and visiting
teachers who visited her monthly for ten years. Well, at the time when
this woman was coming back to church, Our friend joined the church!
Maria opened up to her about some of her problems and holy cow her
neighbor is an angel sent from Heaven. She was able to give our friend
just the encouragement she needed and then proceeded to promise to
take her through the temple. She bore a powerful testimony of the
temple and boldly told our friend all the things she needed to do to
go. She then again promised to go with her and said that she would
even bring her visiting teacher. It was amazing. The Lord is so aware
of all the needs of his children. We had gone out looking for more
people to teach, but he used us to lead Maria to just what she needs.
We love being here so much. It just feels like such a tender mercy.
The people are so loving. (I haven't ever been fed so much on my
mission. You know you're an Hermana when death comes in three families
who decide to serve you sopa or caldo three times on the same hot
August day. Still trying to figure out the "this is the soup my mom
always made on the hottest days of the summer!" Culture....but I love
them for it!)
This week we've been taking out the bikes! We take the bikes to
different neighborhoods, just leave our car somewhere and have been
biking to members. It's been a lot of fun.
On Wednesday while biking we stopped at a home we had seen having A
carne Asada party weekends prior. A girl about our age answered the
door and we started talking with her, until she just stopped us and
said, "wait. Where are y'all from?" Um Texas and Idaho..."where did
y'all learn Spanish? Because your Spanish is perfect. And I mean
perfect." She was in shock, and quite frankly, so we're we! It was
amazing to see how the gift of tongues identified us as servants of
the Lord. She let us in and we met her cute little family and we are
teaching them again tonight!
On Friday we biked to a part member less active family, but they
weren't home. So we decided to try this other member, who was a single
woman the branch President's wife referred to us. We thought she was
less active, but when we arrived she told us about how distraught she
was that company had over stayed her time to leave in time to go to
the temple that night in Spanish. But we came! Haha somewhere in the
conversation it came up that her favorite hymn was "Lord I would
Follow thee" we asked her if we could sing it and she got really
excited. "Yes! And I want to get my mom and her caretaker!" Her care
taker turned out to be a friend visiting from Mexico and she loved the
hymn! ( her mom, who is 85, also sang with us btw.) we then talked
about our favorite lines from the hymn and shared a message based off
that conversation. We explained to her moms caretaker/ friend who we
were and what we do and asked her if we could teach her. She said yes!
So we went back the next morning- first thing! And she was so excited.
They (care taker and member- who are friends) had stayed up late into
the night singing hymns, and our new friend Josefina loved it! It was
such a spiritual lesson. We all cried and she told us that she new we
were angels of truth and committed to read the Book of Mormon.
I know that what we share is true. We aren't perfect, by any means,
but I know that the message we share is true and the most important
thing is that we keep on trying. God is our Loving Heavenly Father and
His grace is sufficient. Moroni 10:32. In all that we do, the most
important thing is that we continue to grow closer to Him and to be
more like Him. Mosiah 3:19.
God is so merciful.  This week we had zone meeting and we talked a lot
about faith. Well, with Faith comes Hope and faith + hope = charity
and that is the goal: Charity. Without it, we are nothing. So keep the
faith! Keep the hope! And remember that Love is the essence of the
gospel!
I love and miss you all!
Love always,
Hermana Wallis

Spanish sisters the day of transfers. (This is from 3 ish weeks ago...)
And caldo with a side of Coca-cola. (They bought the napkins just for us btw.)

Week 64- Cherokee, GA, Spanish Speaking

Wow. It has been wonderful to be here in Cherokee. On Monday night we
went to go visit this less active who is handicapped, but we drove up
to his house and it just didn't feel right. We felt very uneasy about
the whole thing. So we looked at our map to see what other less
actives we could visit nearby. We decided to go visit the Gonzalez
family. They weren't exactly close, but had been a referral from the
elders and our branch president so we decided to head up to there home.
The Hermana welcomed us with open arms and was so happy to receive us.
She just opened up and told us everything that had been going on for
the past few months and her concerns about her teenage daughters. It
was very tender to recognize the need for sisters here in this area.
This woman is so sweet. I just love her. Her yard is covered with all
different kinds of flowers and she has been through so much. She came
to church yesterday and fasted for the first time in her life! Her
first task for us was referring her sister to us. Since then she has
also referred her neighbor and another friend. Her testimony is
amazing. We just wish her missionaries could have been there to hear
her listen to her testify of God's love and mercy for us. We are
excited to continue to work with her and see what the Lord has in
store for her.
On Tuesday we ate dinner with "Mama Loca". She had us make our own
tortillas and told us about her missionaries. She expressed
disappointment as she told us about how they have gone less active and
one of them is divorced. Again, we wished her missionaries could have
listened to her testimony and hear how she had once had so many high
hopes for them.
We had district meeting on Wednesday. And we accidentally went to the
wrong district. :/ we were so proud of ourselves! We arrived right on
time and had settled in and started studying when the district leader
walked in. Our district was at the stake center 20 min away! So we
quickly grabbed all our stuff and raced over there. We literally
walked in just as everyone was standing to recite D&C 4 and for me to
share the missionary handbook thought I was assigned. Sometimes I
think the Lord just wanted a good laugh.
Our district! For the first time in my Spanish speaking mission I am
part of the only Spanish speaking companionship! We feel like we were
dropped out of Mexico City and into the campos with all the English
people. Haha it's definitely an adjustment. (My last district was 3
Spanish speaking companionships. We spoke in Spanish a lot because one
elder was from Oxaca and the other was from chile.)
On Thursday I surprised Donna from the Shiloh food pantry! It was so
much fun. We went early to volunteer and were just sitting there in
front of the pantry when she showed up. She was so excited. I love her
so much and am so grateful for the wonderful friends like her I've
made on my mission. It feels like I was a brand new missionary in this
area just yesterday, but the truth is that the time is flying!
I was able to play the piano for the primary yesterday- they have a
good sized primary! It was fun- there's a good missionary focus in
this branch. We feel really loved here. It's been a big tender mercy
for me. The Lord always blesses us in 10fold. And if we can't see the
blessings now- keep going! They will come!
I love this work and I love the Lord. I know that we are His children
and that He loves us.
Love always,

Hermana Wallis

This is at Hermana Gonzalez' house. She calls us her "medianaranjas".

If you would like to write to Madeleine please use madeleine.wallis@myldsmail.net

For more information on what she is teaching please see www.mormon.org

Week 63- Cherokee, GA with Sister Greenman

The Sisters Have Arrived.

This week was crazy. (When is it not?) but so fun. Sister Greenman and
I have had a lot of fun settling into our new apartment and getting to
know the members here.
We love Cherokee!
Our first task was to girlify our apartment. (It kind of feels like
we're pulling a prank or something because we are already such good
friends it's like we decided to go on this mini trip and take over
elders apartments, steal their investigators, and eat their member's
food.) anyways, after cleaning out old ties and aftershave, and
spraying perfume through that apartment, we were ready to work.
Basically we've just been meeting as many people as we could. It has
been very fun- they're so excited because we are the first sisters for
this branch, so they treat us like princesses. (Can't complain.)
It's been amazing because almost every time we've gone to meet a less
active, they've been home. And while we've had no idea what we're
doing, the Lord has lead us the whole way. The members already have
brought a family to church and asked us to give a church tour after
church and then asked us to come over to teach them yesterday night.
Oh and they also put together an FHE party for next week and all
committed each other to bring non-members or their less active
friends.
God is good.
I am so grateful to be a part of this work! I say it every week, but
it is such a privilege. Even the little things. For instance, I just
love the schedule. I love coming home at night, writing in my journal
and going to bed. I also love waking up in the morning, exercising
(well, somethings never change), and then having 2 whole hours to
study the gospel! It's wonderful.
I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He lives. This is His
gospel and His work. This morning in my studies I started comparing
children of men (Helaman 12 vs Children of Christ (Mosiah 5) and it's
amazing what knowing about our divine identity can do for us. We are
all children of God! We can become more than "dust upon the earth"
because of Jesus Christ. Our potential is more glorious than we can
comprehend. (But we have to know our divine identity as children of
God (Romans 8:16-17) , before we can even begin to comprehend our
divine potential.)
I Love and miss you!
Love always,
Hermana Wallis

If you would like to write to Madeleine please use: madeleine.wallis@myldsmail.net

For information on what Madeleine is teaching please go to mormon.org