Journaling

Thank you so much mom for the letter.  Sorry that the P-day got mixed up this week and all that fun stuff.  It sounds like you are busy working trying to figure it everything out.  That is so crazy all the work that you guys are doing.  You have got to slow down or else you will burn yourself out.  It's not good to work harder than you are capable.  Remember to take rests and breath.  The lawn will get in sometime.  Besides all it is, is material things.  They don't matter in the eternal perspective.  That is sweet that dad is called as the eleven year old scout leader.  Man I was just thinking about how long he has been in scouting and now he hasn't done it in for ever.  He's going to have to brush off the old uniform and try to see if he knows how to tie knots again.  So I will probably be sending you and dad's birthday/mothers day/fathers day present either this week or next week.  I'm starting to get it all together.  Take care of the DODADAY.  Not everyone is privileged to use that one. 

This was such a great week in Harrisonburg. We were so blessed to be able to see Marie Madden baptized this Saturday. Elder Unga and I were led to her one Saturday afternoon and taught her about the Restoration. The next five weeks were just blessing after blessing. The Lord was so kind to us and he helped us so much to be able to effectively teach and lead Marie to the waters of Baptism. There was actually one point were Sister Madden called Elder Fuhriman and I and said that she no longer wanted to take the lessons. The Lord didn't want his daughter to miss out on these blessings he kept having us go back and talk with her. She has been worked upon by the holy spirit and she has seen so many miracles. The greatest moment, besides seeing her get baptized, was on Sunday. She received the gift of the Holy Ghost and could not stop crying. She was over joyed with emotions. Then the ward all Sunday was constantly fellowshipping her and helping her feel welcomed. She loved it so much. She told us that she loved Sunday because she finally felt accepted somewhere. Something that she has been praying for, for a while now. The Lord is behind this work I know that it was only because of him that I was able to see Sister Madden baptized. I know that my redeemer lives and that he loves each and everyone of us. I love my Savior so much. Another great miracle occurred yesterday. We were helping a ward member move some things around there house and we get a random call. It's a ward member that has a daughter that wants to be baptized this Friday!!! She has already been taught all the lessons and has gone to church. It is such a blessing.  I love this work so much.  You constantly see the work of the Lord in your life and it is such a great blessing.

Something great that I have a very strong testimony of is of Journaling.  Mom this is such a great blessing to be able to sit down and write what happened in the day or what you remember about your father.  I would encourage you to begin journaling.  Here is a way that I journal.  I write two letters one is a letter to Heavenly Father.  Letting him know about the day and how greatful I am for the miracles that I saw in that day.  Another letter is to my future wife.  Letting her know what I am doing to prepare myself for an eternal marriage.  This is such blessing.  You could do something kind of like this.  You could write one letter to Heavenly Father letting him know about the things that you did that day and the things that you are welcome for and then you could write another to your father.  Talking about the memories that you remember and how much you enjoyed that or what memories that you want to make.  I know that journaling is so important and it can be such a blessing.  As I have been able to journal on my mission I have been able to see more blessings from the Lord in my Dailey life.  I have also been able to see how it helps me organize my thoughts and desires and focus on the things that really matter.  Journaling is amazing and I highly encourage you to start one today.  

Mother thank you so much for all that you do for me.  I love you so much and thank you for your e-mail.  Everything is going great in the good old H-Burg.  We are seeing so many blessings.  I love this work so much and I love you.  I hope that you have a great week.  I know that this church is true.  I know that my Savior Jesus Christ lives and that he loves each and everyone of us.  I know that he is constantly watching over us and looking to help us in any way possible.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it tells us exactly what we need in order to return to live with our Heavenly Father Again.  I know that he lives and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.  I love you so much and hope that you have a great week.  With all my love and care from Virginia.

Elder Adams  

Memorial Day

This week was a great week lots and lots of miracles.  That sounds like you are all having just a ball of a time.  That is so awesome that the yard is ready you will have to show me the pictures of the house when everything is done so then I can see it all.  It is so great to hear from you all and how everything is going.  Thank you so much for writing me it really means a lot.  That is so awesome about what Devin and Arista wrote.  That was probably the sweetest thing that I have ever heard in my life.  Mom it's true though I don't know many mothers that could do what you have done with us three boys.  You have truly changed us into men.  It's apparent how much you have been there for me know that I am on my mission.  You are the greatest mom in the whole world no one could ever top you.  I love you so much mom.  Thank you so much for all that you have done for me.  That is way awesome about dads b-day gift.  See if Def-leppard is in town... hahaha.  How is everything going?  I didn't have a lot of time this p-day so I will have to send you you and dad gift next week.  Sorry I promise that it will most definitely be worth it.  I love you mom.

This week in Harrisonburg was great.  We teach Muslims black and whites and they are the greatest!  We had a Muslim guy show up this week for the 4 week in a row now.  It is so great I love it so much.  The ladies name that we stopped teaching last week was Marie Madden but she is getting baptized this week.   Another great miracle that happened this week was with an investigator that was on date. At the end of last week she was having a very hard time and didn't really want to continue lessons. We let her pray about it for a couple of days and see how she felt. We went and visited monday and asked how she was feeling. She said that she had been having dreams that she can't explain. She said that she had one dream where she was standing on a pathway and felt someone grab her hand and say you are on the pathway to righteousness. Then she looked up and saw a white building. It was so amazing.  So that family that I told you about on mothers day.  Benita Flowers and her four kids.  This week they had some family trials and weren't able to meet with us. We weren't sure how we could help her. Saturday we decided that we would just stop by and see how she was doing. When we started to talk to her she was very calm about the situation and was very eager to meet with us. We then asked her how her Book of Mormon reading had been going and if she had found comfort as she was able to read. She said to us that it had been going very well. She said that as soon as the problem occurred she just opened up the bible and the Book of Mormon and started cross referencing scriptures and seeing how the Bible and the Book of Mormon go hand in hand. It has been such a blessing to be able to teach her.  This work is so great I love it so much.  We are seeing so many miracles in the work of the Lord.  I love it so much.  I would not be anywhere else in the world right now.  I know that this church is true and I know that my Savior Jesus Christ lives and that he loves each and everyone of us.  I know with all my heart that this church is true and that it has been restored by Jesus Christ Himself.  I know for a fact that he is in this work.  There is no way that I could do what I do every day.  I love you so much mom and thank you for all that you do for me.  A commitment that I want to leave with you today is a simple one.  Prepare yourself every week by reading the lesson that you will have in sunday in the teaching of the Prophets book.  There is so many great things in there read and study it and I know that you will learn so much and be able to really receive revelation at church.  I love you and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  I love you and hope that you have a great week.  With all my love from Virginia.

Elder Adams

I will have P-day on tuesday next week.

Happy Mothers Day

Dear Family,

It was so great to be able to hear from you yesterday.  It sounds like you are all doing very well.  What a fabulous mothers day.  Nothing like a mothers day on a mission.  It really makes you think about all that your mother does for you.  It was such a blessing.  The ward that I am serving had a really cool sacrament.  They had all the mothers that have missionaries out serving speak about there missionaries.  It was such a blessing to see how much my mother cares for me and probably prays everyday.  Thank you so much mom for all the wonderful things that you have done for me.  I promise that I will try to never forget it.  There is a really cool video that came out this week for the church.  It's called, "It was mom".  It was a great video that has a great spirit to it.  I will be sending you something for mothers day/dads b-day/fathers day. Sorry that they have to be all in one thing.  I just don't have a lot of time to do something for all of them.  It was so great to hear from you.

That is really interesting about those waffles they sound amazing!  That is way sweet they look even better from the pictures.  By the way the house is huge!!!  What were you all thinking to build such a massive house!!  Holly cow that is crazy!!  How is the new ward doing?  Have you had the missionaries in your home?  Have you gone out on splits with them and fellowshipped some of there investigators?  I hope everything is going well this week.

This week was a great one but tough one out here on the mission.  We saw many great miracles but much opposition as well.  This week we had one of the most solid investigators that I have taught on my mission call us and tell us that she no longer wanted to be taught.  It was such a hard time, but the Lord was so merciful to us this week.  We were able to find a new couple that at first wasn't very open to learn from the missionaries but they opened up and were very interested in the gospel.  We were also able to see so many great miracles with the investigators that we are teaching with Benita Flowers.  She is doing great!  She loves the gospel and is progressing so much!  It is so great to be able to see her answer all of her question and find the truth in the gospel.  This week has been a great week in Virginia in the Harrisonburg ward.  It has been such a blessing to serve a mission.  Something that I have learned this week is patience and always making sure that we do what we can and then let the Lords plan unravel.  It is so important that we don't get worried and freak out when something doesn't go the way we want it to but instead make sure that we just work harder and do better at what we have been commanded to do.  The Lord is always seeking to help us out if we let him.  If we do what we can correctly and to the best of our abilities then we will find true peace and happiness that is found in the gospel.  I know all these things to be true and I know that my Savior lives and that he loves each and everyone of us.  I know that he is always watching over us and wants us to be able.  I love this work no matter how hard it is it is such a blessing to be in the service of God and I would not trade it for anything in the world.  These last 10 months have flown past and I can't believe that it's almost been a year.  I love my savior and I have learned so much from these past couple of months I love you all so much and I thank my Heavenly Father for such a great family.  It was so great to hear all of you and hear all of your testimonies of gospel truths.  I invite you all to take what you know and build upon it.  Never stop growing in the knowledge of the gospel.  Always make sure that we are constantly preparing for the war between good and evil.  I love you all so much and have a great week.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  I love you so much and thank you for all that you do for me.  I love you mom happy mothers day.  You are the best mom in the whole world.  With all my love from Virginia.

Elder Adams

Empty Nest

Everything is going great! Sorry that this letter will be super short but we are super busy today.  My companion is getting transferred and we have 13 people leaving our zone so we are trying to get rides for all of the missionaries.  This week has been crazy busy.  It sounds like you are super busy at work again.  I remember this time of year it was always super crazy.  As for the skype you are going to have to e-mail me your skype account and then I can skype you or I might just be able to face time you some how.  If not just a simple call will work as well.  We will probably end up calling you some time around 5 during our dinner.  That is 5 my time not yours.  I'll have to tell you about my bowling trip that I had a couple of months ago.  Thank you so much for your e-mail it has been so great to be able to hear from you no matter how short the e-mail is.  Don't worry about it being a short missionary.  We haven't had to many storms out here.  Just a little bit of rain wind but other than that it wasn't to bad.  This week was awesome we were able to be taught by a Apostle, Elder Bednar, this week and he had the presiding bishop of the church and a seventy with him.  Holly cow it was so amazing by far the coolest experience of my life.  The spirit was so strong.  Elder Unga and I also had a miracle to go along with that right after. As Elder Unga and I were riding home from the meeting and we were talking about how we want to improve as missionaries and become more Preach my Gospel missionaries. Both of us wanted to try to learn how to teach like him. Sunday morning we had a meeting with a lady that has been so prepared from the start. We had given her homework and asked her to prepare for next week. When we sat down and began to teach with her we began with a solid how to begin teaching that brought the spirit and established our purpose. We then began to ask her about her reading. Instead of just hearing what she read and then teaching her the lesson we planned we tied it all together. The spirit was so strong there it was so amazing. She understood that her church was missing pieces from the gospel of Jesus Christ and that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had those missing pieces. It was such a blessing to be able to see how the spirit taught everyone who was in attendance. By the end of the lesson she was crying and knew that she absolutely needed to be baptized into the Church she is now set for June 7. It was such an amazing spirit and lesson. I know that it came straight from our Heavenly Father Elder Unga and I didn't say a word.  It was so amazing.  I invite you all this week when you do your scripture reading or even as you are reading over the conference talks to always look to answer two questions.  What do I learn? and What stands out to me?  It is such an amazing process that helps you understand what the Lord needs you to know at that time.  I know that this church is true and I know that my Savior Jesus Christ lives and that he loves each and everyone of us.  I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that we can draw closer to God by reading this book than by any other book.  I love you so much and thank you for all that you have done for me.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.  Thank you so much I will talk to you on Sunday.  Love you all.  Mwah Hugs and kisses.  With all my love from Virginia.

Elder Adams