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

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