XOXOXO

Hey I won't be able to write you during the day spending the day with

the Wilsons.

I can talk for a little bit though. 

All I can say is wow.... It's crazy to think that it's been two years, 24 months, 104 weeks, 728 days, 17472 hours.  It's flown by in the blink of an eye.  I truly have seen the hand of God here in Virginia.  I have been changed by these two years and there is no way that I can ever go back to what I use to be.  The mission truly is the hardest thing that I have ever done but it is the most happiness I have ever felt in my life.  Reading your e-mail brought many tears to my eyes and joy/sadness that I can not describe.  There is nothing better than waking up in the morning and knowing exactly what you are doing.  Knowing that you are serving the Lord that he has prepared someone out there to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I know that I have seen the hand of God no one could ever tell me that he is not real, that he doesn't love each and everyone of his children, or that the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is not true.  There is no doubt in my mind that the Savior.  

This week I was able to see that.  We were in meetings all week so on Saturday when we finally got to go out and find miracles occurred.  We were walking down the streets of Richmond and this guy had his head phones on and we asked to talk to him.  He took his head phones off and we taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He loved it.  We invited him to come to a baptism that would be happening at 6 that night.  He came and absolutely loved it.  We then taught him after the baptism about the Gospel of Jesus Christ we then invited him to be baptized on August 2.  He wanted to know what he would have to do to prepare.  So we taught him about the word of wisdom.  He told us about how crazy this experience is: his birthday is May 2, Moroni came to Joseph on that day, a week ago he wanted to recreate himself by quitting smoking, we teach him about the word of wisdom, he's been applying to DuPont, our bishop works for DuPont.  He then says that he will be to church the next day and he will prepare for baptism.  He came and quit smoking and is progressing fast towards baptism.  It is amazing to see others make covenants with our Savior.  What a fabulous miracle of the week!
I will forever keep the e-mail that you sent me and cherish that.  I will have the "All Star" song running through my mind.  "The greatest adventure is what lies ahead" this statement is so true.  I have learned from all the great experiences that I've had and have been forever changed by them.  My mission will forever be sacred to me.  Anything that good happens in my life will be forever attributed to the two years I spent in a foreign land.  I didn't know anyone or anything about what it was going to be like here.  Now this is my home.  My heart will love these people forever.  I know look back and see moments of triumph and moments of sorrow but the one constant was my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  He was by me through thick and thin, big and small.  Never did I ever feel his presence leave.  At times I would think there was no way to go on but something would push me and I would find a little more strength.  This was not my own but my Saviors.  The Atonement has become personal to me.  I thought I knew so,eying about it before but I knew only a part of my Saviors love.  It is the fruit described by Lehi, "And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy. And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen." (1 Nephi 8:10-11). I love my Savior with all my heart.  I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God that he was called by God to do his will.  I know that the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ has a power to change lives.  I know with all my heart that the Book of Mormon is true.  That it is the way that we can get nearer to God than by any other book.  My last and official witness is I know that He lives.  I know that the Savior Jesus Christ lives.  He died and on the third day he rose.  I know this with all my heart.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

With all my love from Virginia,

Elder Adams

Hey mom I sent my bike it costed $160.  Gonna need some money in the

account for food this week... Sorry about that.

$$$$

Hey mom I'm on I didn't get an email from you.

Awesome! I need to ship my bike home today.....

Yeah that's what I was planning on doing.

Nah mama Adams just taught me the good ways.

Got random stuff to do and helping someone move.

I know I am writing it right now.

Thank you so much for everything that you continue to do for me it really means a lot.  You've maxed out my schedule for next semester right?  That is way awesome about Isaac that he graduated the Air Force.  I'm really sorry about being let go from your job.  That's never fun how that works out. I hope that you are doing well and keeping yourself busy though.  Did they give you a reason for why they let you go?  It sounds like the house is an island get away.  What did you do to it?  I'm thinking for the Airport just have the whole family there.  It would be fun to have just you guys there but the cousins are important.  Enough talking about that though.  It's nasty how fast this month has flown by.  Did the guy that you gave a Book of Mormon to ever contact the missionaries?

I really like your quote by Brad Wilcox that you sent.  In the mission field we call that having the faith to fail.  It's not that you start the journey with doubts in your mind.  Instead you put everything you have into something.  You make sure that you plan it out and get everything set.  When you then don't reach your goal what do you do?  Do doubts come flooding into your mind?  Do you start thinking that you were wrong all along?  If you have the faith to fail you keep going when the going gets tough.  You understand that his promises are never broken.  I love the gospel so much because it's so simple just have faith in Him.  Believe that he lives.  Believe that he loves you.  Believe that he is your loving Heavenly Father.  I love you and hope that you have a great week.  I love you so much!  I pray for you on a daily.  You are the greatest mom and dad in the whole world.

This week was a great week!  Lots of amazing miracles occurred this week.  The Lord is for sure hastening his work.  The first miracle occurred on Wednesday this week.  We were walking on campus and we stopped and talked with this Hispanic lady.  We started to talk with her and found out that she had been raised religiously but didn't find value in religion anymore.  We talked with her a little more about the Book of Mormon and how his was going to bless her and bring happiness into her life.  She said, "If you can help me find happiness then I will for sure read this book."  We met with again this week and she read the first 12 chapters of the Book of Mormon.  She loved it and she came to church this week!  It is amazing to see the power of the Book of Mormon in people's lives.  The next miracles is kind of like that one.  It was Thursday night and we were waiting for a guy to show up so we could teach him.  We hear a door open in the church so I thought it was him.  I turn a corner and there's a really skinny black with his head down standing in the door way.  Scared me to death!  We started talking with him and he says, "I've been waiting for this building to be open.  All I want is a Book of Mormon.  I've been looking everywhere for one and can't find one."  It was an amazing miracle.  We taught him and then he also came to church this weekend.  The Book of Mormon is the word of God.  It is the book that God is using to gather Israel.  I know with all my heart that it is true and that it does teach us how we can get closer to our Heavenly Father.  In a world that is so deprived about there knowledge of God this book is the book that will help all of God's children know that he lives and loves all of his children.  I love my savior with all my heart I know that he is my Savior and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

With all my love from Virginia

Elder Adams

Say what?

Ok sounds good.......

Happy 4th of July!

Hey I'm on!
So I'm down for that job.. I figure it would be a good thing to do just to keep me busy. 
It sounds like you have had a super crazy week.  Thanks for doing all that stuff I owe you all a lot!
Yes I did thank you for that!
No it's totally fine.  The package was on point!  Loved that so much!  You are the greatest mom ever!
I am I can email during the day.  

This week was a great week.  Lots of great things happened.  It sounds like you have had a lot of stuff going on.  Thank you again for being willing to do all the things with school and those things.  I'm sorry that this week was so tuff for you.  You have the right attitude with it's a moment for you to prove yourself to God.  What are you going to do for your job now?  Are you still going to work?  California sounds like it was a lot of fun!  

Sorry that this e-mail is so short.  Today was a super busy day with lots of stuff going on.  We are starting to have all of our area book on our iPads so that anyone can access them at any time.  It's pretty crazy!  We are making history out here it's really sweet.

There's a few things that I forgot to put in my goals one of the ones that involves you and dad is I would really like to have family night.  I've seen the blessings from following the council of the prophet and I want to keep doing that as much as possible.  I promise I'm going to try my best to not be crazy when I come home.  I just don't want to loose the things that I've learned on my mission.  I hope that you have a great week and that this week will be a better week.  I will be praying for you. 

This week was great! Elder Walton and I were out last night finding with each other while Elder Wray was with a member. We were walking down the street and we helped this guy get into his apartment complex. As we were holding the door for him Elder Walton said that we needed to go and tract in there. The first door we knock on a guy opens and he instantly lets us in. We teach him a short powerful restoration and he loves it! He will be reading the Book of Mormon and meeting with us Wednesday but then it gets better he accepts a baptismal date for August 1! We knock a few more doors and meet a lady who we teach a short powerful restoration to and she accepts baptism as well. The greatest thing was that all of these people clearly understood the restoration. Teaching simply and powerfully is amazing. It truly is the Lords way. I love you and thank you for all that you do have a great week. I know that this church is true and that my Savior Jesus Christ lives. I know that he is the Christ. He was the one sent to die for us so that we could return back to Fathers presence. I know with all my heart that the gospel of Jesus christ is the base of all truth. I know these things and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. 

With all my love from Virginia 

Elder Adams

Elder Adams personal goals

On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country, and to obey the Scout Law.  To help other people atALL times. To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake, and morally straight.

This is my pledge and my goals for the rest of my life.  These goals are based off of principles that I have learned while on my mission.  They are subject to change, I will review them every month on fast Sunday to adjust them.  The vision of this plan is for me to be a successful kingdom builder after my mission, obtaining the choicest blessings and at the end of my life entering into the celestial kingdom to live with my Father in Heaven forever.

It is not enough to JUST live the commandments.  To be a true disciple of Christ you must constantly be striving for more. Learning daily, being a little better taking on more responsibility till eventually you become like Him.

Have I consecrated my life yet?  Set yourself apart!!!

Duty to God- 1) Helping members live the gospel of Jesus Christ (Reach out to the one)

                             a) Be the one the Lord can count on when ever someone needs someone to talk to. When they are crying out but no one will listen, finding my joy in helping others.  

                                                                FIND THE ONE                  

                             b) Always be the one that helps recent convert members (go to lessons, invite to dinner, become friends with them etc.)

                             c) 100% home teaching.  Not just visiting once a month but become their friend and always checking in. 

                      2) Gathering Israel through missionary work 

                             a) find, teach, baptize, retain and reclaim - Focus on making every moment a missionary moment

                             b) give someone to the missionaries quarterly to be taught 

                      3) Caring for the poor and needy (Mosiah 4:26-27)

                             a) Give 2 hours of non-church related service

                             b) Give a generous fast offering

                      4) Enabling the salvation of the dead by building temples and performing vicarious ordinances.

                             a) Attend the temple weekly for at least an hour

                             b) Index and work on personal family history for a hour a week

Physically strong- 1) Exercise Dailey for an hour a day. (6:30-7:30)

                             2)  Eat a healthy well balanced diet.          

Mentally awake- 1) Full schedule (18 credits or more) graduate in 3 years.

                           2) Get a 4.0 every semester through out college.

                           3) finish a book every three months

Morally straight- 1) Study the Book of Mormon daily and Preach My Gospel

                           2) Go to as many revelatory experiences as possible (fireside, devotionals, sacrament, lessons, Baptisms etc.)

                                   a) Attend all three hours of church every week

                           3) Have a third party audit all electronic devices in my possession every Sunday.

The Scout Law-  I will focus on an attribute a month from the Scout Law.  I will take ____ min of my study to learn more about this attribute.  I will then set a weekly goal on how I will apply the attribute into my life that day.  How do these attributes apply to the three great attributes of FAITH, HOPE, and CHARITY (my relationship with God, others, and myself).l

Study (No later than 8:00 a.m.)

Read- Sequential Order (6 months after my mission)

Study-1) The Atonement - Baptism & Sacrament

           2) The prophet Joseph Smith

           3) Book of Mormon

           4) Church organization & history

           5) Temple - Ordinances & Covenants

           6) Priesthood

Seek- Look for patterns and connections 

Weekly Self Check

Are my actions showing those around me and the Lord an example of obedience?

Are those that I spend my time with inspiring me to be a worthy priesthood hold and achieve goals that will make me stretch?

Do I search the scriptures regularly?

Do I kneel in prayer to talk with your Heavenly Father each morning and each night?

Do I fast and donate a fast offering each month--even if I am poor, struggling student who can’t afford to donate much?

Do I think deeply about the Savior and His atoning sacrifice for me when I am asked to prepare, bless, pass, or partake of the sacrament?

Do I attend my meetings and strive to keep the Sabbath day holy?

Am I honest at home, school, church, and work?

Am I mentally and spiritually clean? Do I avoid viewing pornography or looking at websites, magazines, movies, or apps, including Tinder and Snapchat photos, that would embarrass me if my parents, Church leaders, or the Savior Himself saw me?

Am I careful with my time--avoiding inappropriate technology and social media, including video games, which can dull my spiritual sensitivity?

Am I living a life that allows me to have the spirit to be with me always?

Is my current offering as a Latter-day Saint sufficient to inherit eternal life?

Is there anything in my life I need to change and fix, beginning tonight?

Hope All is Well

Hey I'm on.
Hey I'm on I didn't get your e-mail.  Love ya.

This week was a great week.  It sounds like you are having a really
fun week... Didn't even get to hear from you.  I am glad that you are
having a blast in California!  Thanks for the talk last week.  These
next few weeks are going to be super great.  President Wilson wants me
to go on some exchanges almost every week.  It will be a lot of fun to
be able to be with the missionaries.  It definitely will keep me super
busy that's for sure.
So you asked me what you can do to help me with adjusting. I will send
you a rough draft of my goals and I want you and dad to look over them
this week and tell me what you think of them.  Let me really know if
there are things that I could do better or what.  That would be a huge
help to me.
I hope that you have a great week!  I love you so much and you mean
the world to me.  This morning I had a really cool study on the
priesthood.  The power that God has allowed us to use here on this
earth is amazing.  An senior Elder in our mission said this, "When we
look back on our lives and we see everything that happened we will ask
ourselves, why didn't I use the priesthood more."  I think that is so
true we need to use that power as much a possible.  Towards the end of
my study I got a little more into the temple and priesthood and how
they are connected.  Do we understand the importance and significance
of these two things?  How often do we attend the temple and ponder on
the blessings and promises that are we are given and we take upon us?
I know that when we make the temple the center of our lives we are
endowed with a power from on high and we become His true disciples
moving his work forward and building his kingdom.
There is nothing greater than doing the work of the Lord. Yesterday we
were out with a member so Elder Walton and I were contacting and Elder
Wray went with the member. It was pouring rain and humid. We were
contacting this guy and a thought came to me of nothing but sheer
gratitude of being able to be on a mission. There is nothing greater
than serving the Lord and building up his kingdom. Love this work to
death! The miracle that I want to share with you today is about this
young lady that we contacted last night. We were walking around a not
a lot of people were out. We were walking down this street and we saw
a girl way off in the distance. We started to talk to her and at first
she seemed really interested but then started to ask a lot of
anti-questions. We tried to explain to her the reason for some things
in our church. Instead of continuing to try to prove to her we decided
to just bare our testimony of the Book of Mormon, of Joseph Smith, and
of Jesus Christ. It was so amazing to be able to see her countenance
change. Instead of trying to take our religion down you could see her
understand and see the value that is in it. I know that the power of a
testimony changes people's hearts. I know with all my heart that the
Book of Mormon is true. I know that Jesus is the Christ and I know
that Joseph Smith was a prophet. I know that this church is true and I
say these things in the name of Jesus Christ amen.

With all my love from Virginia
Elder Adams

I'm on now

Mom?

Hey I'm on
I didn't get an email from you. You there?
I did and say what?
O ok yeah elder Olsen leaves tomorrow.

It was great to be able to hear from you.  It seems like you are doing really well. You are super busy which is great but don't get to busy.  Always remember to keep the basics going in your life; reading, praying and going to church. I thank you for your letters they are always so great.  Just let me know if everything works out for school if not I'm sure it will all be ok and we can figure it out sometime.  I'm excited to be able to get a package.  You know you really don't have to send them.  They are nice though.  

This week was a crazy week. One of my companions is going home this week.  It's kind of crazy to think that I would have been going home right now as well.  This week made me sick thinking about how fast the time has gone by.  It seems like just yesterday I was saying goodbye to you at the MTC.  I hope that me extending my mission was not a selfish move that I made.  I'm sorry if it was.  Know that I love you and care about you.  I pray for you every night as well.  I love you so much!  These next four weeks I am going to live up and do as much as I can to build the kingdom of God being a full time missionary.  

This week was a crazy week with a lot of meetings.  We weren't able to do a lot of contacting or teaching this week.  Taylor and Mat the couple that I told you about last week have set a firm date of being baptized on July 12.  It was sad that we had to pass them off to a family ward, but it's great because their making covenants!  One really sweet thing that happened this week was that I was able to go to the temple with my departing group.  The new videos are way sweet!  They bring a whole new life to the Fall and the Plan of Salvation.  As I was sitting in the temple the thought that just kept coming to my mind was how sacred the role of a woman is in the plan of salvation. It's amazing to see Eve and how she new exactly what she must do to move forward the work of Father. Even hours she knew that it was going to add greater heart ache and stress she absolutely knew that this was going to bring all the joy the Father has. I am so great filmdom the temple and the inspiration that comes as we are there. The symblism of the Savior is so rich in the temple that is truly His house.  I know that this is the Lords kingdom.  I know that He is the head of this work.  I know that as we follow the promptings of the spirit and seek to have the spirit in our life always that we can truly become like our father.  I know with all my heart that the Book or Mormon is true and is the word of God!  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

With all my love from Virginia

Elder Adams

Sweet I am excited.  The temple is sweet.

I guess that's one way to look at me extending.  Probably not we might just go to the baptism and support them there.  Yes we got to go to my dream temple the Washington, D.C. Temple.

I meant though and seeing the new films.

Ok I understand. 

I honestly love being a missionary.  I am also scared to death to go home.  I really don't want to do that at all.  There's just nothing better and being able to work in the kingdom of God and constantly have his spirit.

I am.  I'm not sure I will think about that and let you know.

Happy Father's Day!

I think it's either soc10cer32 or 10soccer
Yes just for a little bit

Dear family,

Mom I am so sorry for not e-mailing you that password sooner.  When one of the assistants is going home President and Sister Wilson take us to any historical site that we wanted to see in the mission so that was this p-day.  We ended up going to Monticello and James Monroes house.  It was a lot of fun but I am super sorry about that.  Hopefully everything went well... If not it will all be ok!  It sounds like you've had a lot to do and in the up coming weeks even more to do.  You are going to be busy busy busy.  I hope that you had a very good week and that everything is going great.

This week was really cool.  We had the blessing of having Elder Perkins a member of the seventy come to our mission and do a mission tour.  Just a fun fact Elder Perkins son playing for the Bryton team that we beat in the semi-final game the year we won state.  We instantly had some stuff to talk about.  They were amazing people we were able to learn so much as a mission and are very eager to apply it.  Lots of really cool things that occurred.

We were able to see Charley Farmer be baptized this weekend.  It was a super huge blessing to be able to be a part of that.  He was a friend of Perla Corona the young lady that got baptized two week ends ago.  He said that he was looking for a home and is so great fun that he finally found one.  It is so amazing to be able to see how the Lord is preparing his children for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I love this work!  There is nothing greater than putting on the white shirt and tie every day and serving the Lord.

About a month ago my companion and I decided to listen to nothing but the Mormon tabernacle choir.  We were trying to fine toon our life's to the spirit so that we could do His work His way.  We instantly saw miracles.  As we were finding people would listen to us more often and they wanted to set up appointments more often as well.  We saw so many great blessing but then these last couple of weeks we literally saw the windows of heaven open up.  We had been working with the young lady for not to long and she decided to be baptized really quickly.  While we were teaching her she invited one of her friends to come to church with her.  He came, we taught him and he just got baptized this week end.  You would think that these last two weeks couldn't get any better but here comes one of the greatest miracles ever!  We had been teaching this unmarried couple for about two weeks.  He was a returning member that called us and asked if we could sit down and teach him and his nonmember girl friend.  The commitment we had left them was to read the Restoration pamphlet.  They came back with some questions.  They asked about the law of chastity and if they would have to get married in order for her to be baptized.  They said that they were going to talk about it and see what they were going to do. This lesson happened on a Tuesday, we set up a lesson for Friday.  As soon as they get out of there car they come over to us and say, "So we did it.  We are married."  My companions had to scrape me up off the pavement.  God opened up the windows of heaven and let this huge miracle occur.  I know that as we are more obedient in the Lords work miracles will occur.  I know that as we purify our life we can understand how to follow his spirit more clearly.  I know with all my heart that my Savior lives and loves each and everyone of us.  I know that this church is the true church of God once again established here on this earth.  I know the gospel is true and I love my Savior.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I just thank you so much for all that you've done for me and all that you continue to do for me.  Thank you so much!  It means so much to me that I have such a supportive family.  You mean the world to me.  Thank you for all that you've done for me.  I love you!  Have a great week with all my love from Virginia.

Elder Adams