Happy Presidents Day!

Hey I'm on.
Hey I'm back

This week was a great week.  It was so good to hear from you.  It sounds like you had a really great week.  I did get the Walmart and the Olive Garden gift card.  I have used the Walmart one so thank you so much for that!  Elder Holloway and I have yet to use the Olive Garden one.  Transfers won't be tell next week, we get calls this coming Saturday and then we will depart that Tuesday.  That was such a funny story about Brother Butler.  That man is my hero.  There are so many great things that you learn on you mission.  It is such a blessing to be on a mission.  You constantly have the opportunity to be an answer to peoples prayers even when they don't know it.  The greatest miracle that happened this week was with a lady and her daughter. We had met the daughter many times in the complex we work in. She was always willing to listen to us so just to be safe we would have her go get her mom but her mom would never listen, she wouldn't let her daughter listen either. One night Elder Holloway and I are in the neighborhood and we decide to go and knock on the door again. The mom answers the door but instead of slamming the door she says come back tomorrow at 4. We go back and teach her and she loves it. A couple days later we go back again for another appointment and she had read the chapter we had left and wanted to learn more. She is now progressing towards a baptismal date of March 7th. It is so amazing to be able to see how the Lord works miracles in peoples lives and we as missionaries get to be a part of it. I love my calling as a missionary it is the greatest thing to be able to wake up every morning and put the white shirt and the black name tag and go teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is all you truly need in this life and it is so essential to our eternal perfection. I know that these five simple principles if lived correctly will transform anyone's life. I know that we teach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and I know that Joseph Smith was the prophet that God called to restore this Gospel. I know these things to be true and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  My studies this week have been really great.  One of the greatest decisions of my life was to begin reading the bible from the beginning.  There is so many great and interesting things that you can learn about our Heavenly Fathers plan from the Old testament.  One of the greatest truths that I have learned this week is the importance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  When you think about it the five simple principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ were what the Lord needed to Restore in this dispensation along with the Priesthood.  Which one came first though?  It was the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  If we has Gods children do not have gospel of Jesus Christ it is impossible to even come close to becoming like our Heavenly Father.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is the most essential principle and ordinance that have been practiced all through out time.  The Gospel of Jesus Christ will bring the highest blessings of the heaven into our life. I invite you to gain a stronger testimony of these essential principles.  I love you so much and thank you so much for all that you have done for me.  I couldn't do the things I do with out a supportive family.  I love you so much and thank you so much.  Have a great week.

Elder Adams

Happy Valentines

I'm on
Ok I still didn't get it
yes I am still here.

Well it sounds like you had a wonderful week.  Last week I didn't want you to think that I was mad or that my life is harder because it's definitely not.  You have three boys and all the other things like work and stuff like that.  The only thing that I have to worry about is teaching people the gospel, it really is the best thing in the whole world.  I think what I will be doing is just going to UVU for a semester and them applying to ROTC latter.  It sounds like it's going to be a process and is going to take a lot of work from what members have told me out here.  That sounds nice with the weather.  Over here it's been pretty cold most of the days, but yesterday was so amazing!!! It was so nice!  But yeah...

So this week was a huge blessing and there were so many miracles here in the Quantico Area.  One miracle we really cool.  So one day Elder Holloway and I were just going around tracting and trying to follow up with investigators.  Everything was dead there was no one out and no one wanted to talk.  We finally are just like, "ok where does God need us to be?"  We got in the car and started driving and Elder Holloway says lets go over to this area that hasn't been worked that much.  We go ever there and start tracting.  As we are doing this a guy gets out of his car and Elder Holloway yells to him and asks him if he wants to hear a message about Christ.  He walks over to us and starts talking to us.  We find out that this guy is an assistant Pastor at a Church.  Right then we were ready to Rip on the bible but something told us to not do that, to just hear the guy out.  So we do and come to find out this guy is a man of faith.  Just has faith out of his mind and really knows how to follow the promptings of God.  We end up teaching this guy the Restoration and at the end of it all he says, "Just a few weeks ago I was asking my Pastor why there are so many different Church in the area and why we don't just consolidate."  I know that listening is such an important part of Missionary work as it is discipleship.  It was so amazing to be able to see this lesson that we thought was going to be a bash session to being a teaching opportunity that brought this man closer to the truth.  There are so many more miracles that happened this week that I wish I could tell you but I don't have time.  Know that I love you.   I know with all my heart that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored and that it is the only way that we can come back into the presence of our Father.  I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he was the prophet of the Restoration.  I know that the Book of Mormon is true and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  I love you so much and hope you have a great week.  With all my love from Virginia.

Elder Adams 

Thank you for that quote that is really good.  Elder Holloway and I have been teaching a lot and doing a lot of great things but haven't been able to see these people come to Christ through baptism and that quote really helped.  thank you so much I love you and have to go.  MWAH!  With all my love from Virginia.

Elder Adams

Scholarship Link

Hey I'm on I didn't get anything from you....

Awesome sounds good.

did you send it?

Yes I did get it.

to me that looks like I can't apply to get that scholarship until Dec of next year right?

ok or what I could do is when I come home go to UVU for fall semester.  Get a good reputation in college then apply to the Air force so that I would have a better chance at getting a scholarship.

But still talk to BYU and see what's up.

HEY!!!!!  but still talk to BYU and see what's up.

OOOOOO Thank you mommy you are d best!!!!!

Well it sound like you had a pretty eventful week this week.  I'm sorry that the struggles of life are getting to you.  The best thing that I can tell you is keep your head up and keep trudging away.  There are so many times while I am out here on my mission that are hard.  You see people that don't wan't to be baptized or that don't understand the importance of the message that you are saying so they shut the door.  They just don't understand they don't see eye to eye.  It's a fact of this world we came into this world understanding agency understand that we would all have our own thoughts our own bias and that things would get tough but we did it anyway.  It was the only way that we could become like our Heavenly Father.   This is the only way that we can sacrifice the self centered natural man and seek the Lords will.  How to do that?  I do not know.  It's something that I am trying to work on every day out here on my mission.  Every day we must find truth we must take the Holy Spirit as our guide and do the best that we can and when we stumble and fall we've got to learn to pick ourselves back up and no longer focus on ourselves that's why Peter began to sink in Mat 14 it's because he no longer focused on Christ but he focused on himself.  I know that our Savior loves us and that he is eager to help us out, he understands that we are imperfect all he asks us is that we are perfect at trying to be the best that we can be.  Don't worry mom everything will work its self out I know that.  Look back on what our Family has been through in the past.  We have been through a lot together and the one line that you always said is, "I will not let Satan win this one."  We can't let him win anyone.  We must act and do all we can so what if we fall.  Get back up and keep fighting.  I know that my Savior Jesus Christ lives and I know that even when it seems that we have no way to turn or no one to help us there is always a way and there is always someone.  He LIVES he is alive in each and everyone of our lives if we will just let him.  He will change us and help us to become who we need to become.  True faith in Jesus Christ begins when we let go of the outcome and say, "I don't care what I have to go through but I will do anything the Father needs me to do."  The plan of the gospel is for us to loose to the Fathers will so that we can win in Eternity.  It is only the will of God that will bring true happiness.  I know those things to be true.  I love you and I know that he knows you and he knows your concerns.  I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

I did get those shoes thank you so much.  They are working great!  Sorry that I'm a little ditsy sometimes next time I won't be that way.  This week was a great week of missionary work.  We met a really sweet guy he's from Searleon Africa.  We were walking out of this apartment complex after getting turned down by everyone and we saw a guy walking.  I yelled to him and asked him if he wanted to hear a message about Christ and his restored gospel.  He turned around and said sure.  We walked with him to the store he got what he needed and then we went back to his house and taught him about the Restoration.  He's a muslem but he said that if God told him to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized that he would.  God is always placing prepared people in our path it is amazing.  I know this work is the work of God and that he is active in our lives and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  I love you and hope that you have a great week.  I know that our Father in Heaven is watching over you.  Don't worry and be happy.  With all my love from Virginia.

Elder Adams

Well I got to go.  Have a great week.  I love you and know that you are the best mom in the whole world.  Don't get down!! Be happy!! I love you.  MWAH.

Elder Adams

Scholarships for ROTC

I'm on
cool!
Hey I didn't get your e-mail....
What???? You need to be more specific I don't understand what you are saying.
yes I got it.  What happened???????????????

Thank you so much for sending me those things about the Airforce.  Does the scholarship look lengthy?  Will you send me the link to that?  Thank you so much I love you.  I am thinking military because it's a great way to be able to do missionary work and to be able to make myself stretch and grow.  I feel that if I don't do something that is going to be hard for me then I will just become a bump on a log and really not do anything.  You are the best mom in the whole wide world.  Well that's pretty crazy that Josh and Jera are going to be having a child....  It's actually really weird to think about but hey it's the circle of life.  I hope that your week was awesome!  Ours was great out here in the Woodbridge.  We were able to see Charlene Walker get baptized.  It was absolutely amazing to see how prepared she was.  We are going to start teaching her son now and help him learn about the church.  He's a really cool guy and was able to feel the spirit really strongly at the baptism.  The work is going amazing out here.  There are so many amazing people waiting to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.  There is one thing that I do know and that is that my Heavenly Father lives and loves each and everyone of his children.  I know this with all my heart.  I know that he is aware. So many times I think that this life is in preparation a little more than we like to think.  If you think about it in the pre-mortal life we had the opportunity to grow and develop and spiritually prepare for this earth life.  We are simply preparing for the next life creating if you will what our life in the next life will be like.  Every decision and every action that we make eventually has an eternal consequence it all comes down to us acting and choosing the right things to be able to create our next life.  I love you with all my heart.  There is a special peace in the scriptures.  This life is hard but with the covenants that we make and live we can become armed with God's power (1nephi 14:14)  I know that this gospel is true and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.  I hope that you have a great week.  Know that God is watching over you and that is Loves you!  NEVER EVER GIVE UP NOR GIVE IN!  With all my love from Virginia.

Elder Adams

I love you but I got to go.  We will talk next week.  Have a great week with all my love from Virginia!!!!  MWAH you are strong don't forget it!!!! MWAH

Elder Adams

MLK Holiday

Hey I'm on.
No I do not.  It's just like Josh's just use his picture.
I can't upload the pictures on the phone to the computer.  and I only have one pair of black shoes the other one is brown.
The only problem is I don't have the shoes with me today they are in the apartment.  Some of the wear is manufacture defect but the rest is just normal.
you did.  I just didn't know that I had to send you a picture.  It's find though.  The holes don't make my socks wet so it's all good.  Don't worry about it.  My other shoes are still nice sense for the first half of my mission I didn't use them except for meetings.
Library.  the apartment that I live in now doesn't have computers we were always going to other Elders apartments.
I CAN'T SEND IT TO YOU WITH THE PHONE THAT IS AGAINST THE RULES JUST WAIT TELL NEXT WEEK EVERYTHING WILL BE OK.
It's Black and I can try but I'm not sure.

Wow that sounds like you have had a pretty crazy week.  I had an amazing week and I wish that I could write you all about it but I have a few assignments that I need you to do.

1. I need you to find out what I need to do to apply to BYU Provo.

2. Figure out what it's going to take to get into the ROTC-Airforce program at BYU.

The reason for this is because this week was stake conference.  As I was sitting there in the Sunday Morning session I was listening to Elder Gay.  Awesome speaker.  He was talking about how life is never easy and that we must act on the promptings and feelings that we receive.  As long as we do it the Lord's way we are promised to be blessed.  The only reason that I have been shying away from the military is because I haven't trusted in God enough.  I have let my own desires take place of God's.  If you will do these things please let me know.  Thank you!!!

The work here in Quantico is going amazing and there are miracles around every corner. Elder Holloway and I have been so blessed especially this week. We had stake conference as you know and we were invited to go and do visits with President Oryang on Saturday morning. It was the most spiritual experience to be able to go around and visit people with a member of the Stake Presidency. When we got done with our visits we were able to go and sit down with Elder Gay and all the stake presidency and talk about the experience. We talked about a lot of things that were very profound but the things that Elder Gay shared have forever changed the way that I will do missionary work. He talked about the first vision, how before Joseph Smith ever received an answer he was first tempted by Satan. That is the first lesson, that Satan is a real being. As soon as you know that God lives you also know that Satan is real. The next lesson was Joseph was in a moment of alarm. He helped us understand that every person that we talk to member, non-member, Less-active, Recent convert, etc. They all have an alarm going off in their minds. WE MUST FIND THE ALARM!!!!! We are the only ones that are on this earth that can deliver them from the alarm. Now I know that this is a pretty standard understanding of Missionary work but the way that Elder Gay explained it changed the way that I talk to everyone from now on. It's no longer about how can I get my message across it's all about, what is their alarm and what doctrine do they need. I love this gospel so much and I love my Savior with all my heart. He lives if there is anything that I know with out a shadow of a doubt is that God lives and loves his children. He is mindful of every single one of his children. We may feel at times that he is not close or that he doesn't care, but that is completely and utterly false. 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.  You are the best mom ever.  Don't worry about me and how long I have had holes in my shoes.  It's not that bad.  I would do anything for Christ.  He walked the dusty roads, taught the people, was mocked, spit upon, bled from every pour, and died for me.  He gave his life for me.  I hope to be able to serve him and the Father with enough zeal and obedience that I will stand worthy of this gift that was freely given to me.  Thank you for all that you do.  I hope that your week goes great.  I love you with all my heart!!!!  With all my love from Virginia.

Elder Adams

Mom I can't tell you how long they've had holes because you might beat me....

P.S from my letter I know that my mission is coming to a close and that I've been out for a long time.  Please don't remind me.  I really don't want to even think about it.  Thank you love you!

It's been like a good year or so....

.....OOOPS

ok sounds good.  Well I got to go hope you have a good day and week.  I love you so much and hope everything goes grand.  MWAH!!! I love you.

Hope these work thanks.

Rain

I'm on

It sounds like you week was a lot of fun.  That is a really good question about the gospel and how to answer questions.  One of the biggest things is that you have got to make sure that you are studying everyday.  Even if it's not on the subject that you teaching.  As long as you are reading the scriptures and trying to learn something that's all that matters.  The thing is is that we could never study enough to be able to answer every question, but as we study continually we store away knowledge with out us even realizing it so that when some asks a question we then can have the spirit bring those answers to our minds.  You have to understand that God created our body and our mind is very powerful.  If we will stop letting our body get in the way and control us and let our mind (our spirit) control us that's when we can un-lock our potential as children of the most high God.  It's really cool.  You get to see it a lot on you mission.  Another thing that really struck me is you comment about Satan's plan.  The thing is is that if we were to follow Satan's plan.  We would never be free.  We would be forever damned.  Satan would rule over us with an iron fist and we would have no way of become free like God's plan is designed to help us do.  When we follow Christ we become free!

This week was such a great week to be able to see the hand of God again revealed in such a magnificent light. As we started out this week they brother that was going to be baptized was a little shaky. He wasn't sure if he should take this step. We decided that we were going to go forward this week like the baptism was set in stone. We got the investigator an interview with President Sackett and it went great. One of the greatest blessings was our ward mission leader, Paul Batista. We had him drive him to the interview. Right before we got out of the car. Paul began to talk to him about his life and his walk with the Lord. How sometimes you just feel that you aren't good enough but the Lord still loves you and as long as you are honest with him he will help you through all the challenges that you encounter. Our investigator was very touched. He went through the interview and came out and was good. He felt that he was really able to get a load off of his chest. We asked him there if he was ready for baptism of Saturday he said, "Let's take this one step at a time." We then went about setting everything up. Letting the ward know getting the programs ready and everything. It was Friday night and we show up to his house and talk with him for a little bit and then show him the program for his baptism. He pauses and then says, "I need to do it it will only help me." It was such an amazing spirit filled moment. Such a great opportunity to be able to see the spirit of the Lord touch someones life. I that this baptism occurred because of two reasons. The first one is definitely faith. It all came down to the faith of the investigator and the faith of Elder Hollow and I. The other reason is members. The members were the ones that were able to help him into the gospel and to really be able to help him see that he was accepted into the church and that he would be loved. I love this work so much and I love my Savior with all my heart. I know that this gospel is true and I know that we can receive so much knowledge and strength by the power of the Holy Ghost. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  I love you so much and hope that you have a great week.  I thank you so much for all that you do and all that you have helped me with.  I love this gospel and the opportunity to be able to serve a mission.  It has been and will for ever be the greatest blessing of my life.  I love you so much.  Have a great week.  With all my love from Virginia.

Elder Adams

P.S-Does mr. MaC do refund on shoes my black ones have massive holes in them.

2015!

I'm on
How are you?

Well this week was another great week here in Quantico.  There were a lot of blessings and miracles that we were able to see.  It sounds like you had a great new years eve.  We spent it in a meeting tell about 4 and then we went to dinner down in Richmond at a place called Chicken Fiesta.  It's a little tex mex place that's so good.  It's a MLC tradition.  That is crazy about Arista and Devin's trip.  That would be a lot of fun.  Cozumel was a lot of fun riding around on scooters and all.  This week we were able to see so many amazing miracles.  One happened yesterday at church.  Yesterday at sacrament meeting we were sitting there and no one had come. It was just one of those days... As the sacrament was about to be passed the spirit brought to my mind a guy that we had talked to a couple weeks ago. I wondered where he was and thought that we should go try to contact him after church but then he just walks right into sacrament meeting. We were able to teach him and we set him on date for the 17th of January he's been to church a lot with his girl friend. It's awesome!

Another sweet thing that I was able to learn this week was taught in MLC.

There were a lot of things that really touched me and changed me for the rest of my life. There was a really amazing experience with the priesthood that I was able to have this week and many other things. One of the most profound things that really hit me this week though was in MLC. As president was talking about leadership he said, "You are not the calling, there will be a time that you will be released." I have never really looked at callings in that light. To many times in the word we hold the titles that we have held. People recognize us by our titles and then determine what type of person you are by the title you hold. The thought that in the gospel really callings are just a vehicle that God has placed here for us to learn greater eternal principles and the to have our lives for ever changed

The work is going great here.  There are always miracles around every single corner.  It is so amazing to be a missionary.  It's crazy how fast my mission has just flown by.  Now that I look back on what has happened it seems all but a moment.  I love my mission with all my heart.  It has taught me so much about myself and about my Savior Jesus Christ.  I love the gospel.  There is nothing better than being able to come to understand how God works and how we can use the Atonement in our life.  I know that my Savior lives and that he loves each and everyone of us.  I know with all my heart that he is my Savior and that he is there for me always.  I love this gospel and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.  I thank you so much for all that you do for me.  You are the best mother and family a boy could ask for.  I'm proud to say that I'm an Adams.  I love you so much have a great week.  With all my love from Virginia.

Elder Adams

Yes i'm on . No at the appartment and MLC=Mission Leadership Council

yes I did thank you!

say what????  It's just like people will judge a book by it's cover.  If I hold the title of CEO then people instantly think I'm smart and well off.  and then we feel that those titles define us and give us success but really it's not.

Well i got to go.  Love you!!!!  MWAH have a great week!!!!