Adventure's with Sister Adams

ARCTIC ARIZONA                                                                  November 25, 2013

Seriously, this week has been freezing with lots of rain! I feel like I'm in Washington, not in the middle of the desert. It was a bit of a nice change up, besides the fact that I don't have any warm clothes with me. Neither does Sister Winters so we just froze the past few days. The temperature dropped really low, as in like the 50's! I also forgot my journal, where I had written down all that I had to talk about this week. So hopefully my memory suffices.

 This week I am grateful for the Lord's servants. Elder Bruce D. Porter of the 70 came to talk to us. He was amazing! He also opened it up for questions at the end, but I chickened out and didn't ask mine. Maybe next time :) One thing I really loved that he talked about was how most people always look for some big grand experience to solidify their testimony. When really, having smaller experiences more frequently are actually better. He related it to how Laman and Lemuel saw angels and such, yet we know that they never stayed strong. I love that. And it makes perfect sense. If we have just one experience, we can rationalize it when times get tough. But when we have a whole quiver full of testimony building experiences to get us through it's makes us much stronger, and able to face the many trials that we all face in life.

I'm grateful for Ruth this week. For her telling of many off-kilter stories. We heard all about aliens, she even has an alien ring, and how she sees them all the time. We heard about how when she came to church she saw all these spirits and such. She also told us she can predict when it rains and how when clouds turn darker thats where the rain is.haha. She is so funny and such a sweet heart. She already gave us Christmas presents.

I'm also grateful for faith dining. One of the rainy days we decided to go to Zupa's for lunch. Not many other times in life do you earn money while going out to eat, but we did. As we were waiting to order a man walked up and handed us a $20 bill to pay for our meal. Then the people in front of us ended up paying for our food. So we made $20. It was amazing! The people here are so nice and treat the missionaries so well. It's such a blessing to serve around so many amazing people.

I'm grateful for exchanges. We went on exchanges this week, and I actually got to go to my old area with Sister Ayers!ha. Just like old times! It was fun to get to see a few people again, even though most of our appointments canceled. It realy like old times. Sister Ayers and her new companion had been struggling so that was hard to hear. And her companion said she's never been in an area where she feels like she shouldn't be there, and she's been out a year. She feels like everyone is just sad that I'm gone and all they ask about is where I am and why I was transferred. That would be really hard, so we've been praying for them.

I'm grateful for members who gave us some hot chocolate so that we wouldn't freeze. It was such a great blessing to be able to make some hot chocolate before we started planning at night. And Chili. And soup. And pasta. And cupcakes. And cake. And brownies. Seriously, we have so much stuff just piled up on our counter.ha.

I'm grateful for the temple. We were able to show the temple presentation like 5000 times this week. I love the videos that we show. And being able to bare testimony so much on what the temple means to me. It's also cool to hear all the members testimonies on the temple and the experiences that they have had there. We got to share it with a couple non-members this week as well. It's cool to see them watching the video and feeling the spirit of the temple.Here's one of the videos: http://mormon.org/beliefs/church/#our_members

I'm grateful for cute babies and little kids. Not only do they provide entertainment during the 6 hours of church that we attend, but they also love when we come to their hour. Our laps get piled with toys they want to show us and pictures that they have drawn for us. It's adorable. And also torture that we aren't allowed to hold them. Kids names of the week: Fox(boy) and Navy(girl).

I'm grateful that at the next stake leadership meeting I won't have to give the spiritual thought. You think being out for 6 months would make that seem super easy, and most of the time it is. But on the other hand it's super intimidating to speak to all these high up people. I always feel so unqualified.

I'm grateful for investigators that as questions. Even if the only concern they tell us, is that there crazy LDS friend told her that he was gonna be baptized for Elvis Presley. Some things they don't just prepare you for in the MTC. ha. I actually kinda love getting crazy questions. Because they're generally pretty simple answers. And if it's about baptisms for the dead, which a lot of people have questions about, you get to explain the importance of baptism. I love that.

I'm grateful for mail! Beky, Granny, and Dallan get gold stars this week. There's nothing like opening a mailbox full of fun letters! And the Great American Cookie Company cookies are the best! Those snickerdoodles. YUM!Thank you, thank you, thank you! And I will be doing my best to write them all back today.

I'm grateful for comic relief in a ward missionary meeting that gets super heated between the different members. First time being in a meeting that people are basically fighting. Then this one guy writes a note to my that says, "You didn't think your first meeting would be this exciting, did you?" It was pretty funny.

I'm grateful for parents that care. That even though there son was intoxicated when we came over, Sister Anderson retrieved him and his friend to watch the temple presentation. First time teaching a leasson to a drunk person. I can now check that off the list. I also taught a lesson while sitting in a wheelchair this week, first time for everything!ha.

I'm grateful for the Lines family, who fed our whole district...steak. Why so much steak lately! But they are the sweetest. Brother Lines is a high councilman, so we go over every week to report how are week was. Our district, which is 4 companionships, taught 81 lessons this past week! It's a record. And Sister Winters and I won! Score. Not that we needed anything else to add to our vast array of goodies.

I'm grateful for....my companion. I'm grateful for having a year left to serve. I'm grateful for getting an hour lunch break each day. I'm grateful for the power of prayer. I'm grateful for the scriptures. I'm grateful for my friends. I'm grateful for my family. I'm grateful for my Savior.

Well, this next week should be full of a lot more great opportunities to share the gospel. I'm doing well, besides the permanent chill bumps I now have. And it's so crazy that this Sunday will be December 1st!! Shut the front door...open it...and shut it again! Thanks for all that you do for me and in keeping me sane! I love hearing from y'all! I did send Jeb a letter last week, so hopefully he got it. I love y'all so so much! Have the grandest Thanksgiving ever!

We match....

This is a crazt truck...They do not look like this in Jackson County

Beautiful chickens.....here chicky chicky..