No Empty Seats                                       January 6, 2013

Another week bites the dust. This week felt super weird. Normally the weeks just fly by but this one was actually quite long. It was just draining. So I'll just tell you the main reason why.

Sheryl, who is so prepared and just loves the gospel accepted to be baptized on January 18th last Tuesday. She was so excited! She talked about how she knows that the BOM is true, and how amazing she feels at chruch. She is so sensitive to the spirit.  And then on Friday she says she texted us to cancel our appointment and says she doesn't feel comfortable being baptized then that she has some concerns. Other than that we haven't really been able to get a hold of her to discuss the situation which sucks. We know the issue is her boyfriend, Brick. He is against organized religion. We just want her to be happy. And we know that the gospel can bring, and already has brought, that happiness into her life. It's so frustrating sometimes when you know that the investigator knows the church is true, and has had so many spiritual experiences to confirm that and then don't act on it. Satan is real, and he works so hard on anyone tring to make those good changes in their life. AHHH! We are praying and hoping that we're able to resolve her concerns and build her faith. I just love her!

We had an interesting lesson with this guy Travis, whos like 23ish. He just walked over as we were teaching Ruth. Oh Ruth. And he asked me if I was married, and Ruth freaked out. She was like, "Do you see that black tag. That means off limits."haha. It was hilarious. He responded with, "Can't a man just ask a woman a question?" It was pretty awkward but I couldn't help but laugh. We were able to teach him about the Book of Mormon and the restoration a little bit. It's crazy how many misconceptions people have about it. And when they realize it's the record of the prophets in America and Christs ministry there most of the time they're a little more intrigued.

Juan is still just doing amazing. He told us some cool things about all the tattoos he has and the meaning behind some of them. Well he really just talked about the ones that our own his head. He is just so happy and it's amazing! He will be baptized in April, once he is off of parol. But he is so funny! I love Hermano Hernandez. We taught him the plan of salvation and the Word of Wisdom. So now we're helping him quit smoking! That'll be fun! We're taking him to the Visitor Center this week to see the restoration video. I haven't seen the full one either so I'm pretty excited about that.

Our investigator Phyllis called us and left a message about her grandaughter that was being blessed in the Mormon church and what a good present is for a Mormon baby. Believe it or not, they're just like every other baby. The best part about the message was her intro, "Hi, this is Phyllis. Sister Adams and Bouck have been teaching me. I'm the blind one." Oh Phyllis. She's so funny.

There were some fun run in with some kids this week. We bought some baked goods from some cute girls that were having a bake sale as we rode by on our bikes. And we also raced this 4 year old boy on his bike. It was hard not to beat him. Growing up we never won unless we actually deserved it. I figured it might not look so good if a sister missionary makes a little kid cry.haha.

We also kinda-ish got into a bit of a battle with this guy, Darrow, who lives next to Ruth. We invited him to the temple open house and he was excited about that. And we asked if he had any questions, and he had lots. He tried to argue first about the "Mormon Bible," but we explained the BOM and Bible and how they support eachother and one isn't ahead of the other. Then he started arguing about the trinity vs. the Godhead. It's crazy to me how anyone could believe in the trinity. There is literally no biblical evidence. And he just kept saying, "We just can't understand it." Well, why would an all knowing, all loving, God, not want us to understand his true character? He does. And he has. It's all throughout the scriptures. The best part of that conversation was when I spouted out the first vision, and explained how thats one of the reasons we know that Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father are two separate beings. He couldn't say anything back to that. It was awesome. He was just hit with the spirit. It was amazing. I just keep thinking if you can't fully understand who God is, then how can you worship him? I'm grateful for the resotred gospel and the knowledge and understanding I have of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  Heres a quote I love by Elder  Holland on the subject,"Our first and foremost article of faith in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is “We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.”² We believe these three divine persons constituting a single Godhead are united in purpose, in manner, in testimony, in mission. We believe Them to be filled with the same godly sense of mercy and love, justice and grace, patience, forgiveness, and redemption. I think it is accurate to say we believe They are one in every significant and eternal aspect imaginable exceptbelieving Them to be three persons combined in one substance, a Trinitarian notion never set forth in the scriptures because it is not true.
Indeed no less a source than the stalwart Harper’s Bible Dictionary records that “the formal doctrine of the Trinity as it was defined by the great church councils of the fourth and fifth centuries is not to be found in the [New Testament].”

In other news, we did some service, assembled a sidewalk out of wood. I forgot to tell you how last week the Graham's surprised me by showing up at one of my meetings to bring a Christmas gift. It was so good to see there smiling faces! I miss them! And the original estimasted 350,000 people to attend the open house of the Gilbert Temple has jumped to 700,000. No big deal. Elder Holland is coming to speak to our mission on Saturday, so that's also super exciting!  uhh. We are doing really good here in AZ. It got up to like almost 80 degrees this week during the day!  But the mornings and evenings can get down to a frigid 42. At least that's the lowest I've seen in on our car. We are biking more which is fun. We went to a New Years Day breakfast, which was a lot of fun. They had some delish danish pancake thing with a fancy name. They would best be described as a Pancake Fluff. Anyway, all is good in The Gil. I'll keep my eye out for the package! Thanks so much for all y'all do for me!

 

Love,

Sister Adams

 

Scripture of the week: Doctrince and Covenants 50:24

 

#almatheyounger                                  December 30, 2013

Well, Christmas is over but the excitement of getting to talk to y'all certainly hasn't wore off! It was so good to see everyone, and to hear your laugh Mom. It seems like not too much has changed. Besides the length of Nikki and Delaney's hair. Even still still disregards whatever it is to go biking.

 After we got off the phone, we got to play Scattegories with the Greers. Brother Greer said that he never loses, and I said that I never lose. We ended up tying. I feel like he had an unfair advantage since as a missionary I'm totally out of the world! But oh well. Then we chilled at our apartment, went to supper at a families house. And then had a zone activity. Watching The Chronicles of Narnia was so relaxing! It was the best! And in the white elephant I snagged a real life bowling pin. I know, It's pretty legit.

Probably one of the most amazing experiences I've had on my mission happened the day after Christmas. We were teaching Juan. He's the one that has been in prison for 26 years and was just a bad dude. He was just sobbing about how he wanted all the pain of his past to be gone, etc. his soul was literally racked with torment. He was pleading for help. We talked about the atonement, and forgiveness and how everything that he was feeling could be taken away from him. So we talked about prayer, and asking for help and forgiveness. He was wary to pray because he hadn't prayed before. Everyone at the lesson was just in tears watching him struggle. He kept saying he wanted someone to help him pray, that he didn't know how to ask. So I asked him what he wanted to ask for. And he told us. And then he just started praying! it was the most humble, sincere prayer that I have ever heard. It was full of heart, half the time he was sobbing. Everyone was crying! Part of the time he prayed in Spanish because that's how he can really express himself. After the prayer was over, we all sat there for a few minutes and then I asked him how he felt. He said, "I think he heard me that time." And just started crying. Then he spoke about how he couldn't even see a flash of his past in his mind. That  he felt good and that God really heard him. It was AMAZING! The atonement of Jesus Christ is real! it lifts our burdens, carries us through trials and strengthens our many weaknesses. I know I couldn't be out here doing 99% of the things I do without His help. I know that because of the atonement we can be cleansed and return to live with our Heavenly Father in perfect and complete happiness. All we have to do is ask for the help we need. I saw the faith, courage, and struggle that Juan went through in order for those words to leave his mouth. Humility is the key to unlocking the door to using the atonement. Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. When we were leaving Brother Greer said, "It's not every day you get to teach Alma the Younger." It was amazing! And he came to church yesterday and we taught him. His countenance is completely changed. He looks and feel happy.  He accepted to be baptized, but he just has to be interviewed by the mission president. So we'll see what happens.

Lets seee. Sunday was the longest day of my life! That is dramatic, but still, it was long. I failed to turn my alarm on the night before so we woke up at 6:52 and we had a stake meeting at 7:00. Awesome. We managed to only be 5 minutes late. Then we had church. We taught Jace. When we asked what he got for Christmas he told us that it was a secret. because he didn't want to "share the excitement." He's a funny kid. Then we went to more church, and Sheryl had told us that she wouldn't be able to make it. And then right when the first speaker got up we saw her walk in! She didn't see us. Having investigators at church is really excting but also stressful because you're worried at what people might say! But we could see her shaking her head in agreement with things that were said. She loved church! The third hour was combined-everyone except primary-and we had to do a role play in front of everyone. So stressful. We also taught Juan that evening, and had a weird dinner. We've gotten fed ham soup twice this week. Gag me.

But all in all it was an amazing week! Sorry I am out of time now. Thanks for all that you do for me! I love y'all!

Holly Jolly                                                        December 23, 2104

This week has been so busy! Transfers, parties, family history, lessons= no time for us to eat lunch, or more importantly the break that comes with eating lunch! There was so much that went on this week, and I have so little time to write about it. Since Christmas is a P-Day today we just have emailing and shopping and have to be out by one. So I need to be really fast today, plus I get to SEE you via Skype in like 2 days. So that's fair.

Last Monday, I just wanted to die. Just kidding. We were running around trying to get stuff to send home to our families, the line at the post office was like 3 miles long. It was insanity. We also had a lesson with Sheryl during our normal P-Day time so that cut our time short. It was just crazy. We both just wanted to relax, but that rarely happens on P-Day! Our lesson with Sheryl was really great! We taught her the Plan of Salvation and she loved every bit of it. She is just so ready! And to make it better, her boyfriends heart is totally softening towards her meeting with us and such. PRAYER WORKS! That night we got to go to the Mesa Christmas Lights again with Bishop Oliver's family and his friend that was interested in learning about the church. It was a lot of fun. She lives out of the mission so we won't be able to teach her. But she's a sweetheart. Bishop also "got lost" and we ended up driving by the Gilbert Temple as well. I hadn't seen it at night before but it was gorgeous! It's huge!

Tuesday we had family history and we did more training on family history for most of the afternoon. We also had a lesson with Juan. He really needs the gospel but is super hard on himself, and we pretty much drilled now how he can be cleansed through the atonement. He comes to church every week. But he is moving kinda slow as far as baptism goes.

Wednesday was transfer day. So nerve racking sitting there waiting for them to cal out who you're companion is gonna be. My companion is Sister Bouck. She came out the same time as Sister Ayers and is from St. George, Utah. She is 25 and is really nice. We get along well. And have had lots of fun so far! We went as a mission and took a picture in front of the Gilbert Temple. That was an adventure. We also got CHICK FIL A! My day was made so much better when our zone leader suggested that. It's the little things.

Thursday was our mission Christmas party. We went to the Mesa temple as a mission and then we were fed, and each zone did a skit, which was hilarious. And we also talked some about the light of Christ. And had a "White Christmas" slideshow of some of the baptisms that have happened sinve the creation of the mission. It was really amazing! And then they had like 220 helium balloons with lights at the end of them that represented our converts and  how their light can now affect people. And we let them off into the sky after singing Silent Night. It was such an awesome experience. This mission is so amazing! We are spoiled, that's for sure.

We taught Sheryl again on Friday, and she had SO MANY concerns. But she's so open about them all, unlike most investigators, so it's awesome! As she was explaining her concerns, I was just praying because she had legitimate points and I was just like I have no idea how to resolve all of these. But we talked them through, and her concerns were able to be resolved. She was like, "thank goodness for the spirit! We're able to learn so much by him" I was just thinking Yes, Sheryl. Because we are very poor teachers in comparison. I'm so thankful for the Holy Ghost!

Other happenings.. We were taught all about aliens and also a good bit of self defense from a former thief. So that's good I guess. We had to teach Sunday School. Shoot me.ha. It went well I believe.

We also taught Jace the rest of the Plan of Salvation and he has it down to a T! Seriously. He would go through the whole thing with his lego characters. Have one get ran over and die, and he loved judgment and being able to place them into kingdoms. He's such a sweet kid.

This week will be great. What a greater gift to give to the savior than to serve Him during the Holiday season. Don't worry about me. Everyone here is taking really good care of us! Raelene showed up on my doorstep this week bearing Christmas gifts. It was so amazing to see her smiling face! It made my day! Such a surprise..I was like, "How did you find me?!?"ha. But she got my address off of my blog. But all is well here. We will most likely Skype around 10:30 here, so that's 12:30 there. I will call so we can get the Skype accounts connected and such. It is really weird being away for the holidays. And Nickel's birthday, and Taylor's wedding, and I'll miss new years eve at the Jones'. I have so enjoyed the 12 days of Christmas from you, and Dallan's family, and the Day's. It's so fun! So thanks to everyone that contributed! It lights up each day! I miss and love y'all!

 

Love,

Sister Adams

 

My favorite scripture from this week, well one of them. John 12:46. Look it up :)