Elder Nelson April 13, 2015

Dear Friends and Family!

Well this week has been great :) Sister Mills and I are working really hard! We made a lot of progress both in the area and in myself. I bet you all would barely recognize me :) Just kidding. I'm still me, but i feel so different! 

So this is what happened this week, we took our investigator John on a church tour, and then we taught him the plan of salvation. He also came to church! He said he is really liking it! So we are hopeful that he will continue to progress in the gospel! When we went to see him this week (we always teach him on his porch) he gave us lemonade and this really good carrot cake! It was so sweet! So I'll let you know how it goes with him this week!

Also Christine.. we are on a time crunch with her because she is leaving for school in June. So we NEED to get her baptized before she goes. Who knows what will happen or how long it would take for her to become a member if we don't. I love her SOO much! She is my kind of girl! She totally knows that the church is true. When we talked to her about baptism she said she wants to. We just have to help her feel ready and prepared for it. So i'll let you know. We also had two less actives that have been out of church for years come to church this week! Its awesome!! 

Next, we are making so much progress with getting referrals and just support from the ward. This last Sunday we couldn't make it ten steps without a member asking if we have seen this family and if we need someone to go out with and make visits. Its awesome! This ward already feels like home to me! I love it! So a big thing our stake focuses on is having lessons with EVERY member of the ward. Actives, inactives, less actives, part member families. You name it! We report each week of how many lessons we had. And guess who is winning out of all 16 sets of missionaries?? Oh ya you got it :) Sister Mills and I :) Its fun to beat the Elders :) Anyways.. bragging over.. This next week is transfers so hopefully I will stay in Sandpoint with Sister Mills! Definitely not ready to leave! 

So this week we get to have Elder Nelson come and speak to our whole mission! How awesome is that?? it will be this Saturday!! I am soo excited!! :) He wants to shake all our hands and look into our souls.. ahh.. I better be prepared for that! Anyways I'm really growing a lot and learning a lot about the gospel! Missions are soo great! Well have a great week all! I love you and pray every day :) Life is better when you pray!! 

Happy Week!! April 6, 2015

Dear Family and Friends!

This week was soo great! We had a lot of meetings, but we were still able to get a lot of work done! First of all, I was able to go running for the first time in forever.. it felt so good! But, its snowing currently so no more running for awhile! Also, wasn't Conference just the best ever? I don't think I have ever taken so many notes in my life! I wish I could go through and tell you all what talks I liked, but we ain't got no time for that! Its really sad its already over though.. It almost breaks my heart when Pres Uchtdorf said until October.. Sniff sniff. But Tis life! (Which that is my new favorite saying) 

So this week we were able to go to the temple! I love that place so much! I won't be going for awhile now though! This week we also had my first set of interviews with President. It was great! They are so down to earth and just loving! Sister Mullen is the best too! I can't imagine being a mission president or mission president's wife.. Thats a lot of hard work. So I have so much respect for them and they are so so wise! We also had a Zone Training and that was the longest meeting of my life.. They threw so much information at us.. It was hard to absorb it all! But it was good! Sister Mills and I were able to use it in a lesson we had with our new investigator John! I'll go into detail later though! 

We also did a lot of tracting this week! I don't mind it at all! Its fun because you never know who is going to open the door! And we get to talk to a lot of people! We found a few potentials in the process so we will see how that goes! Also while we were out walking around before we knocked on the first door, we saw this lady starring at us through her front door. So i said well lets go see what her deal is. So we went up and she said ya i thought you were coming to see me. Its been awhile. And we thought huh? Who is this lady? So apparently she was meeting with the sisters before and was kind of waiting for us to come back! So her name is Shauna and we will see how it goes with her. Something is holding her back but well find out what! 

So our lesson with John was great! We introduced the BOM to him and we are going on a church tour with him on Tuesday! He is awesome, but a little crazy and says he has had visions of Jesus and such.. but hey who are we to judge? He still wants to learn more! So well take it! 

Also Easter.. Was soo good! If you haven't seen the He Lives video yet you are mission out! It is so good! :) Makes me cry every time! I know He Lives and because He does we can do ANYTHING! He gives us so much strength and its available to ALL! Oh and I got to go on a Easter Egg hunt with little kids :) So my life is complete :) Have a great week! 

Sidenote: Remember Randy? Well he is already coming back to us! Haha We just saw him here at the library and he wants to meet up this week :) So we got him back! He will be baptized in two days mark my words.. just kidding :) but really.

-- 

Love,

Sister Adamson

This Week!!! March 30, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Well this week had some interesting parts to it. I'll get started with some really funny things that happened. So we serve at a soup kitchen here and some people are just a little loopy. So this one guy was just looking to bug us and to me he said have you heard about the massacre? And i thought he was talking about something that happened recently and i said no. Well turns out he was talking about the massacre scandal thing that happened in mormon history. I didn't really know what to say is response because i dont really know the details of it. So i just kind of pretended to be busy and walked away. (the guys crazy by the way) So I told the other missionaries what he said and later he tracked down an elder and in response the elder said the Boston Massacre? and started talking about that to him. I thought it was so funny :) Wish i came up with that response! 

Also we were walking up to this house and we heard weird indian chanting music and me and my comp look at each other wondering if we should knock on the door. So glad we did :) well maybe not. The lady that answered was only wearing a bra and some kind of gypsy dress skirt and had the HAIRIEST armpits i have ever seen! It was crazy! they were just talking to us like it was any other day. So ya there are some interesting souls up here! Also we got out of our car and we heard something across the street and we looked over and... there was a moose!! Yep just chillen and eating a bush in someone's front yard. They are EVERYWHERE here! Gotta love it :) 

Ok now serious stuff. Randy called and dropped us this week. But he still wants to come to church. He said he isn't interesting in converting and never was. He just wants to learn more. So we won't be meeting with him much anymore. He says he is going to come to conference this weekend. We all know he is just afraid to change his life. So well see. His time will come. In the meantime we taught John this week! It was my first time teaching a non-member the Restoration! All the times practicing before helped so much! It went well and he says he already knows its true and committed to baptism.. sounds easy right? wrong. He is pretty interesting and I'm wondering if he really means what he says. Well see. 

So Christine is awesome! She shows up to church in a neon yellow t shirt, yoga pants and her knee brace. Man i miss wearing sweats sometimes.. haha but she is so confident in who she is. She stayed all three hours of church! She is like my soul sister and i love her so much! I hope that we are able to help her commit to baptism soon! She has a complicated life and I know the gospel will bless her so much! I'll keep you updated on her!

So we had the opportunity to teach part of the last hour of church in the YSA branch. Before though our branch president had us watch the video about Christ's Crucifixion. That was soo hard for me to watch. I'm growing closer to my Savior and it was just awful watching that i had to look away. So our part of the lesson was focused on why its important to know He is risen. And when we got up there the first thing i said i just started crying.. My love for my Savior has grown so much and this Easter season has been very impactful to me. I felt the spirit so strong and i wanted everyone in that room to feel the same way i do about my Savior! Everyone share the Because He Lives video! Its a great missionary tool! This week my testimony has grown so much and I'm so grateful for this opportunity i have to serve Him. Love you all! Thank you for everything! 

Change March 23, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This week has been incredible for me. I have grown so much already and it became pretty evident this week. I want to tell just a few things that happened before i get to the good stuff. So funny little thing.. We almost hit a moose this week. Right on the main road through town. It was late at night and we barely missed him! It was so scary! My heart was pounding. Only in North Idaho :) He would have destroyed our Ford Focus.

Also I had my real first time tracting and street contacting this week! I loved it! i loved talking to people and its a great way to find new people in this area! We found a YSA age guy named Paul. His grandparents meet with the missionaries and got baptized so he has some familiarity with the church! He said he is willing to meet with us! So I'll let you know how that goes! Also funny story.. The Jehovah Witnesses have been afoot lately.. they came to our door to invite us to some bible discussion, but they saw our name tags and their faces dropped.. haha it was funny :) they have some interesting beliefs I tell ya. 

So i want to say something briefly about agency. Its sucks. Sister Townsend, who we have been meeting with to help her overcome her smoking habits, has a daughter that lives with her. She is 25 and has five kids. With different dads. She doesn't have custody of half of them. One of her daughters is five and is the sweetest little girl ever. I have a really good connection with her. So we went to stop by on Saturday and guess what was going on? Her daughter Maggie (the 25 year old one) was moving out because her and Sister Townsend got in an argument. So she was taking sweet little Addi to Spokane to live with a boyfriend. Taking Addi away from her sweet Grandmother and a good church environment. Because she loved reading the Book of Mormon for kids and coming to church. She was crying and said she didn't want to go and I was crying to see her so sad.. I just pray for that little girl. I hope the dumb choices of her mother don't ruin her.. So i'll let you know if i see them again. I made her promise to me before she left that she would never stop praying and reading her BOM. Sad day..

So we are starting to teach a family!! Whoohoo! They are the Dillons! We didn't anywhere to go on Sunday night so we prayed and we both decided to go see if they were interested in the gospel still. (They have been on our list for awhile) When we got there they were so happy to see us! They said that they thought we gave up on them! They are so cute and awesome! They have met with missionaries before, just never really committed to anything. But they are such dry Mormons! She is an art teacher at the school and he is a stay at home dad. So thats exciting!

We also met with Christine and Matt (her boyfriend) again this week. We are worried the the reason Randy hasn't fully accepted the gospel is because he doesn't want to change. So well see. And Christine is great! She really loves church we just need to figure out whats holding her back from being baptized. So i'll keep you updated!

So what happened this week for me was change. I realized how much I need to change. We had a Zone Training with our mission president because Elder Nelson is coming to our mission on April 18th! So we are prepping for that. But we talked a lot about obedience and doing missionary work verses the missionary like activity. And there is a huge difference. When we are doing missionary work, our whole heart and mind is in it. Thats when we are truly doing the Lords work. I really learned that I need to humble myself and ask for God's help. He knows who's ready for the gospel and where we should go. When we rely on our strength thats when we start getting frustrated and down. So that was great for me to hear this week! Well hope all is well and i love you all!! Pray always :)

Love,

Sister Adamson

A Week of Firsts March 16, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

Well it truly has been a week of firsts!! Just to list a few.. First time have fresh cow milk, having fresh farm eggs, getting a new comp in the field, being in charge of an area, holding a baby goat, petting al pacas, setting up a tramp in a skirt. ya you name it :) It was a really great week though! So here are the deets.

We'll i finally finished the Book of Mormon this week! That was the fastest I read it! I'm learning so much about the Book of Mormon! I love reading it! So my new companion is Sister Mills from Phoenix. Shes been out for four transfers so we are both pretty new! I love her! She is a hard worker and is pumped to be here! So I know that a lot of good things are going to happen in here in Sandpoint soon! I can feel it! I'm so happy and ready to learn more from her! The first day together we taught like twelve lessons! We killed it! So I'm ready to start working hard and help this Sandpoint ward grow! 

So this week we went through the HUGE list of potentials that have been sitting around staring at my face. So we have a few possible new investigators. One is named John some old, crazy toothless guy with a beard. (like almost every old guy here) He is a bit looney so I'll let you know though next week how real he really is. The Elders passed of a girl named Marissa to us. She was baptized when she was 17 for the wrong reasons she said and fell away pretty soon after that. She since has been partying, drinking, smoking. the whole deal. She expressed to us her desire to really learn if its true or not. If it is, she said she was willing to give it all up for it! So it was awesome talking to her! We are going to start teaching her this week! 

We didnt get to teach Christine or Randy this week because they were sick or out of town.. so we are planning on seeing them this week! 

So it really beautiful up here.. so pretty! We have a lake in town, pretty mountains, eagles flying, moose around town creating havoc. Its great :) So i'm so grateful I was called here! It is such a cute little town and I love it! One thing that i have been working on this week was saying out loud personal prayers. I do when my comp is in the shower.. haha I find that when I do so, my prayers are so much more meaningful to me! So if any of you struggle with prayer, pray out loud! Just talk to God! Because he loves you! Have a great week!

-- 

Love,

Sister Adamson

Mooskins? or Make-up?‏ March 9, 2015

 

Dear Family and Friends, 

 

   Well another week down and man was this a fast one!! Ok so to explain the subject, before curfew a few days ago, we went to go get our mail. Which is across the parking lot. So we pull up in our car and right before Sister Becraft got out we both look over and there is a moose right there! Like ten feet away from us! Just chillin! It scared us so bad! My comp was waiting for her mom to send her make-up and she wanted to see if it was there. So we had this whole debate if it was worth risking a moose attack to get her make-up. It was pretty funny! We made some funny videos of that whole experience. Gotta love Idaho! 

So we met with Christine a few times this week! She is just amazing! she came to church again and dragged her boyfriend and brother with her! She leaves for school in June so hopefully well get her baptized before than! She loves church, she just has had a hard life. She has like three dads, her mom is a jerk and she has a crazy household. So I'll keep you updated on her!

So Randy this week.. he is such a punk! i know i need to stop saying that.. But he is.. in a loving way of course. So he fasted and prayed about the Book or Mormon. We asked him how it went and he said, I know its true for the LDS church. Someone should slap him! But he still wants to meet with us. He is far away from baptism. Even though he knows its true. 

There is this really cute alleyway downtown that has all this graffiti on it. Sister Becraft wanted to take pictures there as a final goodbye memory thing. I'll send you a few of those pictures!! I love Sandpoint! Wont ever live here, but i love being here now! Its such a cute little town full of trains :) 

So we are still reading the Book of Mormon with Sister Sharples! I'm always surprised of how i can answer her questions about it! Turns out I know a  little about the Book of Mormon! Imagine that! She is still so excited about it! Its amazing to see! Also I don't know if i told  you all already, but her daughters are both into drugs and are very rude to her. The never say anything to us while we are there and when they see us they go into their rooms and slam the door. (they are both members by the way, just inactive) But, this last time we were there, one of the daughters came out and talked to her about her life and her addictions! It was so great to see her open up to us! So maybe we will be able to help them come back to church also! 

 

We had a baptism this week! Indy Funk is her name! It was so sweet! She was crying the whole time! Just so happy to be there and she was so nervous! It was amazing to see a baptism! Really puts what we do into perspective! So we did a little presentation and i was a little nervous because there were a lot of people there, but I did pretty good! I was pretty proud! A member came up to me and my comp after and told us that we were the kind of missionaries that are really approachable and loving. It was an amazing compliment! He also told me that I reminded him of his daughter thats on a mission! I loved hearing that! I love this ward i am in!! That people here are amazing!

One last thing.. Sister Becraft left.. Shes home as i am typing this right at this moment. Thats really weird to think! But She will be missed! My new companion is Sister Mills! I'll meet her tomorrow! I heard she is a lot of fun and a good missionary! So i'm really excited!! Well thats all i got for this week!! I love you all and keep praying! Heavenly Father wants to hear from you all!! Have a great week all!!

 

Keeps Getting Better :) March 2, 2015

Dear family and friendsies, 

Its has been such a good few days!! I love it :) So much to say!!

Ok first off i must tell you this because it is hilarious. There are a few 19-20 year old guys that live in the apartment next to us, and they are high as a kite 80% of the time. But we always go over and give them candy and such that we dont want and invite them to church. So we have been doing this the whole time we've been here. And the other night we did it and one guy said to me "Are you knew? I've never seen you before" and i've talked to him like five times before.. he was just always so high he didn't remember.. haha so why people choose to live their lives like that I'll never know. But keeps us entertained. 

Also we got to go to the temple again! I'm so lucky to go twice this transfer! I learn so much each time i go! Especially when I got my spiritual side kicking in! So I'm so grateful for the temple!! 

Ok so there is this sister in the ward named Sister Sharples. She has been a member for ten years and has two bratty girls who are in the twenties and treat her like crap. It drives me up the wall when I see them doing it! But anyways.. she has very bad health issues. Major heart problems. One night we were on splits with members and we went and saw her. When she answered the door she was completely out of breath and took her awhile to regain it again. We called the ward mission leader and he came over to give her a blessing. In the blessing it talked about how she will be blessed if she reads the BOM. So we talked to her about that and asked her how we could help her with that. On Sunday we went over to read the BOM with her. She told us that she never read it before. She said that she was going to quite drinking coffee and smoking. She wants to get to the temple by this time next march. It was so awesome just listening to her! I'm so excited to help her get to the temple! So that is going to be a major focus for me and my comp now! :) I love Sister Sharples!! 

Ok so this week on Saturday is Indies baptism!! I'm so excited for her and her cute family :) (who are all members by the way) So i'll let you know how that goes!! This is my final week with Sister Becraft! It went by so fast.. its sad to see her go, but she served a great mission and i learned a lot from her! I'm a little nervous about another comp.. and taking over the area. should be interesting.. 

We had a lesson with Randy this week too. He took a big step back.. we committed him to fast and pray about the book of mormon. Because he refuses to just ask if its true!! And what did he do on Sunday morning?? He texted us what he ate for breakfast that day.. then he told us what he ate for lunch! And we explained to him fasting so clear.. He is just being a punk. So i'll let you know how it will proceed. I'm starting to think he just likes comparing religions.. so we will see!

Also we have new investigators!! Christine i think i mentioned last week and she introduced us to her boyfriend Matt. They are so great! And made pies for my and my comp and saturday! She worked at a pie place and they make all their pies using a microwave! But they are so good!! It was fun! So they came to church so we will see how they progress! I'll send you pictures of them! 

I have mentioned this less active we have been working on too--brother White. Well guess what? He came to church on sunday!! He said that he even teared up when sister Becraft and I bore our testimonies! So i'm so happy about his progress! I hope it continues!! Well its been a great few days! I'm really getting a feel for this area and I have a feeling that the work will explode soon! I cant wait!! Well i love you all and thank you for all the support and love i get from each of you! Have a great week and LIVE the GOSPEL! its too precious to be taken lightly!!

Also please look up Proverbs 28:25 you wont regret it. no joke. 

-- 

Love,

Sister Adamson