One Year Mark

This week was a great week.  It sound like you had a pretty busy week and another one right ahead of ya.  That is way exciting.  I can't believe that it's already been a year sense I left from my mission it is crazy to think about.  The time has flown by and I hear that it only goes by even faster this next year.  I am not happy about that at all!!!  Your trip sounds like it was a lot of fun.  Sorry about spending so much money these past couple of weeks.  I have been terrible at budgeting... I am going to be better this month I promise.  No more spending money.  Except for I still haven't found a side bag so I'm going to have to buy one of those... I am super sorry I hate spending money.

This week we were able to see Banita Flowers be baptized.   She is such an amazing lady.  I'm going to see if she will type up her story and send it to you.  It is one of the most inspiring things that I have ever heard.  It was so amazing to be able to see how much joy this brought her and how much joy it will continue to bring her family.  Two of her girls will be baptized this weekend.  The other two will be baptized at the end of the summer when they come back from Chicago.  It has been such a blessing to be able to work with the Flowers family.  They are amazing.  We also have two other baptisms this week.  One of Lamont Robinson and another of a boy by the name of Matthew Huffman.  Matthew was a surprise baptism.  His dad texted us Saturday night and said, "Elders my son is ready to be baptized."  So he's getting baptized July 4.  I am so excited this is going to be a week of baptisms it is going to be sweet!!!! 

This week I have really had my eyes opened to the responsibilities and purpose for the priesthood here on this earth.  There is a reason why we all can receive the blessings of the Priesthood but males are the bearers of the priesthood.  I have found that our Heavenly Father knows each and everyone of us and has a purpose for all of us to fulfill.  I have found it very interesting to see how the Lord works in our life and how he has a greater purpose and a plan for us then we can understand.  It's important that we understand that there is a purpose for everything that is occurring.  Everything will forever be according to the Lords will.  If we humble ourselves and ask our Heavenly Father for divine guidance he will show us what we need to learn and how we can become better.  I know that the purpose of this life is not simple to go through the motions that it's not to reach a certain level and then to plateau.  We are forever suppose to eternally progress and our Heavenly Father helps us to do that by the challenges, the callings, the trials, and the blessings that we have in our life.  I know that my Savior Jesus Christ lives and that he loves each and everyone of us.  I know that this church is true.  I know that our Heavenly Father has a purpose and a plan for each of us that we can fulfill in this life.  I know that by daily praying and reading our scriptures we can understand this plan and come in line with our Heavenly Fathers will.  I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I love my Savior with all my Heart and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.  I love you and hope that you have a great week.  Thank you for all that you do in helping me become who I need to be.  Thank you so much.  I love you and with all my love from Virginia.

Elder Adams

Doubling Our Baptisms

This week has been a great week noting greater than serving the Lord every day.  I wasn't able to get you letter for this week.  You were probably super busy in Cali.  You will have to let me know how that trip went and how everything else is going.  Thank you so much for all that you do and all you loving support as I have been so blessed by your prayers.  This week was a great week in the mission field.  Bennitta Flowers is very excited to be baptized next week end and her kids can't wait to be baptized the week after that.  Bennitta is such a strong lady and she knows exactly what she is looking for is this life and exactly what she needs.  It is amazing to see her change over the past couple of months as she has been able to discover the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it will bring her great peace and comfort in this life.  I have been so blessed to have worked with her these past couple of months it has been such a great blessing.  Another great thing that has occurred this week is Lamont and Lidia are progressing to there baptismal date.  They are so excited to accept the gospel into there lives and find great happiness.  This family is going through so much but any time that something goes wrong or they get down they instantly turn to the Book of Mormon to find there peace and comfort and there Savior Jesus Christ.  The Lord has been very kind and loving to us this past week to see so many blessings of find new people to teach the gospel to.  The work is truly hastening and it is amazing.  It is moving forward at an alarming rate and it has been such a blessing to be on the ground work of it all.  Our Mission President, President Wilson, at the beginning of this year said that we should work on doubling our baptisms.  This was not only from President Wilson but also from President Hinckley while he was still alive.  As we have been working to achieve this goal there have been so many miracles all through out the mission.  The Lord doesn't give us a commandment save he shall prepare a way for us.  It has been such a blessing to be able to see the Lord's hand in this work guiding his missionaries and his members to those who need the gospel of Jesus Christ in there lives and don't know where to find it.  I absolutely know that this church is true and I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.  I know that he lives and that he loves each and everyone of us.  I know that my Savior Jesus Christ has risen again and because of that we can conquer all challenges and trials in our lives.  He has restored his church here on this earth I know he has.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Cali

It sounds like you are having a great time.  Lots of family fun going on.  That is way exciting about the grass.  Maybe this week you might actually be done with everything and then when you come back from your vacation you can relax? haha yeah right I know that you are always busy.  That is crazy about the missionaries.  I've been late to dinner appointments before it's not the best thing to do.  Father's day went great here in Virginia a member invited us over for dinner and we were able to have a great Sacrament meeting focused on Fathers.  The Primary kids sang that was awesome.  Gotta love those little ones.  So this week I'm probably going to have to get my suits dry cleaned.  I haven't had them done in an entire year.  They are getting pretty bad....  Transfers was this week and I am not getting transferred neither is my companion which is a good thing. 

We have a lot of people preparing for baptism and a lot of great things happening.  I am so excited for these next couple of weeks.  It is going to be awesome!!!!  We have Bennita Flowers being baptized on the 28 of June and two of her kids on July 5 and then we also have a couple by the name of Lamont & Lidia Robinson being baptized on July 12.  It is amazing to be able to see the hand of the Lord in the work.  It is such a great blessing.  I love it so much.

  One of the miracles was with a middle aged couple. They have had a very tough life and what makes it worse is he just got fired from his job. We went over Wednesday to teach them about the Plan of Salvation. As we began to talk about the plan I could see that this is something that they needed. By the end of the lesson the wife really opened up to us and told us that she had had a 9 month baby pass away and that all she wanted to do was to hold that baby again. As we told her that she could do that again she began to cry. The spirit was so strong! It was such a great blessing to see how the gospel blesses individuals and families. Another miracle on top of that was after the wife had explain this he said, "You have no idea what is going on right now. She won't even talk about this with her doctors. This is a miracle that she is finally opening up." It was a testimony to me that people will recognize you as a servant of Jesus Christ and will understand that they can receive happiness. It was such an amazing miracle. Bennita Flowers one of our investigators who is the most solid person in the world let us start to teach her family this week. We were able to have the lesson in a members home where the spirit was able to testify to all of the family. One of the greatest things was as we taught the lesson we would ask the family questions. The only one that would answer was a young 8 year old girl. She had the most amazing testimony. This gospel truly is of God it is simple and children can understand it.  It has been such a blessing to be in the service of the this week.

This week I have been studying a lot on love and stripping ourselves of pride.  This is such an essential thing in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It's talked about so much in the Book of Mormon.  Specifically in Alma 5.  I can't help but think that we all must learn to be more submissive and more humble when walking the path of discipleship.  This path can only be walked with humility and obedience to our Father in Heaven.  I know that humility is very important and that if we constantly seek to be humble and loving to those around us then we will truly become disciples of Christ and we will find greater peace and happiness within the family and within ourselves.  I promise you that if you read Alma 5 and study the Doctrine of Love you will come to know what you need to do to become a better disciple of Jesus Christ.  This life is all about becoming.  Becoming something new something greater than we were yesterday.  It's all about progression.  I know this gospel is true and I know that love is an essential part of it.  I know that our Savior Jesus Christ lives and that he loves each and everyone of us.  I know that he is there watching over us and constantly helping us become something more. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen. 

I love you all and hope that you are having a great summer.  Have a great week and I send all my love from Virginia.

Elder Adams.

I'm on.  I'm at a library right now

How are ya I only have 16 min.

No I have to entire in all the Key indicators for the zone.

At the Family history center in our Church.,

That is awesome. Did dad not have to work today?

I'm good.  Um about those.... Shirts are a little tattered I mean they still work.  Shoes are a little worn down and belts are doing fabulous.

I got 16 more min

I invite you to read PMG and find that out:) You can read about it in chapter 8 how to use time wisely.  That's exciting.

It's great I love it.  I don't talk about it just cuz it's a humbling experience

Brooke and Kathleen Smith, Anthony Sr,, Anthony Jr., Kiana Beasley, Marie Madden, and Madison Huffman.

Yes but I got to get going soon.

Yes:)  Have you been reading PMG like the prophets have instructed?

Just read it. Cover to Cover and do what it says.  They have study guides and all sorts of fun stuff like that.  That will be fine with the money I think.

Well I got to go.  Hope you have a great week.  Have fun in Cali.  I love you!  Thank you for all that you do.  Much love from Virginia.

Elder Adams

Sod

That is so great that Brother Frankie just calls you all the time.  I wish I could give you an over view of the actual talk but I don't write my talks down.  I just write down little notes to follow.... I can give you those but they are nothing like the real deal.  We don't have a lot of time to write today.  We had to go to the Library.  That is so great that you were able to finish the yard.  That will be way exciting when it's all said and done.  That is crazy that Brannen is getting married tell him I say congratulations.  This work is going great out here.  It sounds like there are many blessings back home.  That is so awesome about what Devin said.  That's the crazy thing.  All of us are so scared to give up the natural man because we think that we are happy and we think for some weird reason that following Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ won't be even better.  As soon as we do that and surrender our will to the Fathers there are great blessings in the kingdom of God.  I can't wait for the second coming it's going to be glorious day but we have a lot of work to be done. 

This area is doing great. We are really trying to work on finding new solid investigators. The ones that we have been teaching lately have not been progressing and we fell that we are being as productive as we could be. This week on Saturday there was an opportunity for me to go back to my past area and see an investigator that I taught be baptized. I decided not to attended that baptism. I just felt that we needed to stay in our area and work. We ended up having to go and finish transfer suggestions. There was a great miracle waiting. We had taught this lady a couple weeks ago and she was golden unfortunately after we taught her, her entire life went completely out of control. We kept trying to meet with her but she just couldn't find the time. When we showed up to the library on Saturday we walked in and I recognized one of her little girls. I asked her if her mom was here and she was! We talked with her for a bit and she said that she was coming to church this week. She came! She is set to be baptized on June 28. It is so amazing to see how much this gospel has changed her life and given her a new hope. I know that my Savior Jesus Christ is watching out for me and that he loves me and cares for me. I love my Savior with all my heart. I know that the only reason why I am able to see the miracles that I see is because of my Savior Jesus Christ. I know that this church is true and I know that it has been restored by God. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and that it teaches us how and what we must do to follow Christ. I love this work.

I have been thinking about your comment of how blessed we are when a missionary is serving in our Family.  I know that that plays a very big role in how much we are blessed no doubt about it.  I also think though that we can receive a lot of great blessings by just doing that simple things.  Having our minds constantly filled with the things of the scriptures.  That is something that I have been trying to do.  Always have something that has to do with eternity on my mind rather than pointless things that don't really matter.  I invite you to try this have a study in the morning then ponder about that study all through out your day it's amazing how many great things you learn.  I love this work and I love my Savior.  I love all of you and hope that everything is going great.  You are so amazing.  Anything will do for the 4th of July package.  I love you so much and hope that you are having a great day and week.  With all my love and hugs and kisses from Virginia.

Elder Adams 

Schools Out!

How are you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week was a very busy week but it was such a great week and I was able to learn so much about how to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ.  It sounds like your week has been great.  You are so busy with all those books.  That is so crazy!  You must be working a lot that is so crazy.  Dang Riverton must have been crazy good that is so awesome.  It's crazy to think that just a year ago I was in High School playing soccer and now I'm across the country teaching the Gospel to the people of Virginia.  Life moves so quickly it's crazy to look back on the past and see how it seems like it was just yesterday.  Yesterday after church we had a linger longer and we were talking to some members.  They were talking about how there kids have been sending just random texts to them about the memories of their childhood.  It really made me think about all the fun things that we would do when the brothers where gone at school and you and I would play games or you'd do, "this little piggy."  It's crazy to think about the past.  I will forever cherish those days and memories that I have as a child.  Thank you so much for being an amazing mom and dad.  I love you both so much.  Following up on last week e-mail.  Have you been able to start a Journal?  What did you decide to do?  I know that writing in your journal is such a blessing and that it will help you relax as well as remember the things of the past.  Brother Fankie is an amazing guy.  He is so dedicated to the gospel.  He loves the missionaries that's for sure.  He is awesome.  That is way awesome that you are able to go to the temple.  That is probably one of the hardest things about the mission is not being able to attend the temple.  I wish I could.  I love the feeling that you get there.  The temple is such a blessing in our lives as Latter-day Saints.  

This week was a great week in Harrisonburg.  I loved this work so much it was such a blessing to be able to be the service of our Heavenly Father this week.We were able to see the miracle of a family that has been waiting three years to have there kid baptized but couldn't because the ex-wife of the father would not give permission. On Monday the father asked the daughter if she still wanted to be baptized and she said yes but mom wouldn't let her. The father decided to call the mother and she said, "If it means that much to her than she can be baptized." The spirit was so strong at the baptism it was the most amazing feeling in the world. It was such an amazing week.

So I'm not sure if you remember but in my last area there was a kid by the name of Brian Shamala.  I got a call last night from the missionaries that are serving there that told me that he is being baptized this week.  It is such a blessing to be able to see people accepting the gospel and following our Savior Jesus Christ.  The feelings that you get when you are able to see people make covenants with our Heavenly Father is beyond anything that I can describe.  Even helping less-actives is such a blessing we were able to teach a man yesterday that has had a problem with drugs but wants to get active in the church.  We were able to give him a blessing yesterday and the spirit was so strong.  I love this gospel so much.

This week we were able to attend a whole lot of meetings as well.  I learned a lot about myself and about love in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It is so important that we strip ourselves of all pride if we want to become a disciple of Christ.  I invite you to study love and the Christ like attribute of Charity.  I would be interested in hearing what you learned.   I know that love is essential.  It is the great motivator.  It is the purifier it is the hallmark of discipleship.  I know that our Savior Jesus Christ had the most pure love.  He didn't care one bit about what he wanted but only wanted to please the father.  I know that he loves us and cares for us.  I love my Savior so much and I love that work that he has me doing.  It is such an amazing blessing to be able to be an instrument in the lords hands.  I love my Savior.  I know that this Church is true.  I know that my Savior Jesus Chirst lives and loves each and everyone of us.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I know that if we read it daily the power that comes from it's pages is un-imaginable.  I love this gospel so much and I love you thank you for all that you do.  You are doing more than enough for me.  Sorry about spending a lot of money these past couple of weeks.  I will stop spending money.  I love you and hope that you have a great week.  Know that I love you.  With all my love from Virginia hugs and kisses.

Elder Adams

P.S- Have you sent the missionaries the info to the missionaries in California to go visit andy?  Just type it into Mormon.Org.  I love you so much.  How are your studies going? are you studying PMG?  Have a great week. Love you.

It was so great the spirit was so strong.  She was so prepared to be baptized.

Her father. 

I will send it.  Love you gotta go.  MWAH