Oh the Holidays!! November 23, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

So this week was FULL of finding and looking for new people to teach. Campus is less busy so we have been knocking on apartment doors all the day long! Its been fun! I've noticed my increased faith in finding people. I'm much more bold and proud of the message we share, and if they don't except, I keep on going. So that's been cool to see my growth that way. We had an experience this week where we were thinking about which apartment complexes to tract out. One came to mind that we haven't been to in awhile so we went. A few unanswered doors later these people from Nepal opened theirs and we have met them a few times before just on campus. So they let us right in. She said that she hasn't been raised to believe in God but she's been thinking about it a lot lately. So it was quite timely that we showed up. That Spirit. Such a tricky fella. Its cool to have experiences that show me each that this is NOT our work its the Lord's. So we will see what happens with Simran this week :) 

Also Kara is doing soo great! Her BOM is so loaded with highlights and markings!! Man I love it! :) Thats what missionary work is all about! I love seeing the growth and change in people when they let the gospel in. She is so much happier and smiles so much more. Its not that her circumstances has changed, but her attitude and ability to handle life has changed. The gospel truly is what we need and be truly happy. Its won't change our situation, but it will give us the ability to change it ourselves! 

Guess who got transferred to Pullman WA? SISTER MILLS! I was able to see her this week and man was I pumped! So good to serve around her again! I've missed my Mills!  So I'm grateful for that! I was able to go to Spokane this week for the new leadership meeting and since I was the only new STL, I got to spend about an hour and a half with just me and President and Sister Dymock! The best ever! :) I'm so blessed to be here at this time with them being here! They are such good examples of service and living the gospel. So I learned a lot from them! 

So this week was pretty standard. I know I've said this a million times before, but I LOVE this ward. I've watched this ward go from all these new families coming in, knowing no one to supporting, serving and loving each other. On Sunday we were talking with our bishop and before he gave us assignments for this week, he just went through the ward list and started saying ways that us sisters have impacted that family. It brought Sister Bryson and I to tears. Every time he brought up a new member I would instinctively say, "Oh I love them!" My heart has been so opened to befriend so many people that are different from me. So I'm so grateful for that. Missions are great! I wish I could share more about this with you.. but dang email.. haha can never say enough of the things I'm learning and experiencing! This week will be interesting because school is out, but we will be creative and productive with our efforts in bringing people closer to Christ! :) Also the church is coming out with a video for Christmas on the 29th! I (having missionary VIP access) have already seen it and its so good! So watch it and share it with friends :) Love you all! Have a Happy Thanksgiving! :) 

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Love,

Sister Adamson

Baptism and Moscow :) November 16, 2015

Dear Family and Friends!

So this week was awesome! It was really long though! I feel like I haven't emailed in a month. So to fill you all in on the wondrous happenings of this last week we will start with the lovely opportunity I had to go to dinner in a sorority house on campus. We were on exchanges and the sisters teach a less active that lives there. So I got to go in! Man.. I would not want to live in one of those! So loud and so much going on! Peace and quiet does NOT exist so that's not ok. So that's was interesting! 

Next I learned more about not judging people. (Something that I constantly need help with) There is a sister I have been serving around for these last two transfers and I always think she's judging me, or thinks she's better, or is a know-it-all. Things like that. But I was able to work with her this week, and man.. I'm always so wrong. She't just one of those people that makes you feel good when you talk to her. Being with her at that time was exactly what I needed. I don't know how many times I'm going to have to learn that lesson, but good thing Heavenly Father is patient! 

Kara got baptized this week! :) It was so good! Her testimony at the end was the best :) I'm just so happy that I was able to teach her and help her grow in the gospel! She know's that God loves her and wants her to be happy. She knows that Book of Mormon is true and is reading it and loves it! Its so cool! So she went from pagan to a Mormon :) That's what I'm talking about :) Her baptism was everything I could have asked for! I thought that when I had a baptism that I would feel successful, and I do, but I realized that talking to people on the streets, inviting them to learn more, teaching the restoration, trying my best every day, and being proud of the effort I put in that day makes me feel successful. As long as we do our best, we are successful. So that was cool to learn :) 

We also had the primary program this last Sunday. We have a whole eight kids in our primary and the oldest is six! A part-member family had two kids in it and the mom was speaking as well so the dad came to church to watch his family. It was soo cool to see his face while watching his kids sing I Am a Child of God and quote scriptures. It was probably one of the best primary programs I have ever seen! I was crying of laughter and happiness :) It was great :) Its amazing to see the power kids have :) Brother Pearson will be baptized soon :) I don't know if its when I'll be here, but he will :) 

So as a result of our transfers, I'm staying with Sister Bryson in Moscow! I'll be here for six months! :) Whoot whoot! So that's cool! I'm also the new Sister Training Leader in my zone. So yay.. haha more responsibility! But I'm excited to learn more and to grow! :) I'll be super busy because We have three sets of Sisters in our zone so I have to go on an exchanged with each one of them in six weeks.. so I'll be busy! I'm very excited! So not too surprised we were staying! Our bishop may have called our mission president a few times to put in his two cents on the subject! :) He's the best bishop ever and I'm so thankful that I'm able to work with him! 

So life is good in Moscow! This next transfer will be interesting because of all the school breaks and no one being here, but all will work out :) thank you all for all the support and love! :) Love you all! :) 

Love,

Sister Adamson

Hello All!! November 9, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

So this week was just stupendous. As always. So it was the first snow of the winter.. ahh!! Its here! And the sun sets at like four.. so ya.. thats super fun for missionary work :) haha but tis life!! 

So this week we had a lesson with Danny and Shadrach again. Taught the first part of the Plan of Salvation. It went pretty well, but right at the end Shad was like well still you believe in a different Jesus.. and you believe you can earn your way to heaven. So he has lots of things to work through. We are going to refocus on the Book of Mormon and hopefully as he reads, his issues will be resolved. We went to a bible study of theirs at their church members house. It was super fun! I feel like the people there really respected us and I commented as much as I could! So hopefully we will be able to go there each week with them! 

Kara is still doing well and is set to be baptized this Saturday! So hopefully all goes well this week! :) AHHH!! WHOOT WHOOT! So I'm excited for that! Also our bishop sent us over to an inactive family in one of the family wards here. So we went over and he and his kids let us in. We talked for awhile about his history in the church and why his family doesn't come anymore. It was a really good talk, he feels like he never had a testimony of the church. He even served a full-time mission and has never felt the spirit testify to him. Apparently the missionaries in that ward have given up on his family. So bishop has tasked us to try and get them back! So we will stop by this week and see how it goes. 

So Finn and Daya are gone! When Finn left he asked us for our contact info so they can invite us when/if they get baptized. But he paused before the if.. so really he went when.. haha :) so we will see about them :) I have high hopes :)

Also our transfers are this week.. yikes. Our bishop has put in his order to the mission president to keep us here, but at the same time I feel like I'm done here. But we shall see. The next transfer here would be hard because of the Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks. But you never know! I really would love to stay as well. Moscow has really grown on me! And Sister Bryson is a cutie. So we will see! Wish me luck :) Love you all!! :) 

WHOOOOO!!! November 2, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

This week was awesome!! I loved every bit of it! We found new investigators named Tali and Garrett! They are super Christian, but are willing to listen! They invited us over to lunch yesterday and we brought members and had chili! They are great! So we hope to see them again this week and begin teaching them all the lessons. They are like Danny and Shadrack and are very faithful and not ready yet to change all their beliefs. But I'm confident that the more we teach them, and the more they read the Book of Mormon, they will have that desire to change. So we are excited to work with both these couples!! 

Another amazing thing that happened this week was Kara (the former pagan) is on date to be baptized on November 14th!! WHOOOO!! I tell you WHOOOO!! She has grown and changed so much these past few weeks! She is praying to God, she loves what she reads in the Book of Mormon, and she goes to church and loves it. So we have lots to still teach her and lots to plan! So we will keep praying that all goes well for her! 

Also remember Greg? The sports psychologist that loves us? So he got us a package and dropped it off at the institute and it was full of food!! It was sooo heavy!! So Sister Bryson and I are set for food for awhile! He also left funny notes for us! I'll send you pictures of what he said! He is great! :) 

So this is Finn and Daya's last week here! We had members give them notes with their goodbye's and testimonies in them. We will miss them so much! But we know they will be members when they are ready. They grew so much these past 3 months I was able to work with them. I'm excited to stay in contact with them when I get home from my mission. I'll send you pictures of them as well!

I just want to say how much I love this ward. I feel like I love it so much more than Sandpoint. That's saying something. The members here are so good at fellow-shipping and reaching out to us and those that need it. We had a Halloween trunk or treat and how the ward came together for that was great! We also had several non-member families there that the ward invited! We have transfers in about two weeks and I'm internally struggling.. haha Moscow and the U of I have been really hard, but I fell such a connection to this place and all the people I met here. So I don't know what to think! I just have loved the time I have been able to spend here! :) Love you all!

-- 

Love,

Sister Adamson

PS We had fun on Halloween after we were done for the day :) We made videos of us dancing in the dark with flashlights! :) You will have to wait until I send a flash drive home to see it though :) Be ready :) haha 

Moscow Idaho!! October 26, 2015

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope you all know it still hits me randomly and A) I'm even on a mission in the first place and B) that I'm serving in Moscow, Idaho of all places. You just never know where life takes you!! 

So this week we went to Shadrack and Danny's with some members and went over the Restoration again. They have lots of questions and concerns, but they LOVE having us over. They are really motivating me to learn the scriptures better so I can help answer their questions. We won't be able to meet with them this week because they are really busy, but I'll let you know what happens with them!! Next we have the cutest Asian award--Emma. She is married and has a little girl. She has been interested the church since they lived in Salt Lake a few years ago. She has been coming to activities and even church on and off for awhile! But she never has wanted us to teach her, but she asked us to come over this week! So we did and taught her the Restoration! Well see how she progresses. It takes her awhile to learn since she doesn't know English that well still. But she is just the sweetest lady!

We had a day this week were we did not leave the Institute building on campus because we were teaching so much! We taught Kara (she came to a baptism this week and is more open to the idea of being baptized herself) the gospel of Jesus Christ and she came to church this week again! So she is progressing really well! We also taught a few others who we will pass off to the elders to teach since they are YSA peeps. I love the spirit I am able to feel when I teach people about the truths of the gospel! 

Remember Greg from last week? Well when we were at the farmers market he saw and and said, "What is the best way to get a package to you?" I was like uh.. drop it off at the institute?? Haha so it will be interesting to see what my BFF Greg gets us. Haha I'm convinced that I have been sent to Moscow to soften Greg's heart. He gave me his email so I can ask him career advice and such when I get home. 

It was also U of I's homecoming week this week! We heard that U of I won their game this weekend so its like their third win of the season so far! So yay! They had fireworks and a parade and marching band doing a serpentine around campus. So it was cool. We were also in the same sandwich shop of the U of I homecoming queen. Can you say we were star-struck??? Just kidding we really weren't. I love how the gospel really puts life into perspective. Are we really doing the things that matter most each day? Or are we merely surviving and getting by? That thought really struck me this week. I'm so grateful for the gospel and I love being a missionary for this church. It really has blessed me and will continue to bless the rest of my life! Love you all!

Love,

Sister Adamson

Moscow Life October 19, 2015

Dear Family and Friends!

So this week was awesome! It started out with the funniest and greatest street contact rejections ever! We seriously went through like 15 people right in a row that wouldn't even say hi. Sister Bryson and I called that part of campus Engineering Death Valley because thats where all the engineering classes are! Those kind of things just make me laugh. But sometimes it can be a little rough! But tis a life of a missionary! 

We got some referrals from our bishop this week! Six out of the seven said NO no! But the last one we tried let us right it! And guess what?? They are married students! They actually fit the criteria of our ward! Its a miracle! So his name is Shadrack and her's is Danny. Isn't that an awesome name?? But they are super Christian and have TONS of questions! We taught them the restoration right there! They are by no means golden, but its going to be fun working with them! They have lots of potential! So we will see how it goes with them this week!! 

Finn and Daya are doing well! They are still moving in about two weeks :( But we have really built a bond with them and their little boy Sam. I'm going to miss them. The spirit that we feel when we go teach them and their comments during lessons really have helped me build so much love for them! I know they will be baptized. Just a matter of Finn committing to it. But I'm looking forward to keeping in contact with them when I get home! I just love them!!! Daya also teaches us yoga on Mondays :) so its fun!!

Also we had a really great lesson about the restoration with a guy named Zechariah! He's "atheist" but mostly because he is too lazy and defiant to believe in God. We find that a lot on campus. Most people grew up Christian, but don't even believe in God anymore! Thats why it's so important to teach the gospel in your home and live it each day!! This world is nuts. But we will see if Zechariah progresses. He's missing a lot of desire right now!

So we did something that Sister Adamson just loves this week.. Biking in skirts.. We were going every where in Moscow! It was fun! Sister Bryson didn't like it.. Because she's not the most athletic. We are working on her touching her toes. So if any progress is made I'll be sure to inform you!!

So another awesome thing happened! There is this guy named Greg. He's probably in his early 40s and works as a sports psychologist on campus. I met him my first few weeks here in Moscow and we talked to him for about 15-20 minutes. He wasn't super interested, but he has some Mormon friends in southern Idaho. We got along really well because of my sports background. We saw him again a few weeks ago and just said hi and he met Sister Bryson. We saw him again this week and he was chatting our ears off for about 45 minutes on campus. We were laughing and he said how he always sees missionaries and NEVER will speak to them, but he speaks to us! Him and I get along super well. I love finding people that I can make good connections with! He is one of them! He was talking with us about how we could get a better reputation on campus. He had this idea that the should tour us through the Kibbie Dome (which in just the athletic center). So we walked us through there, we met the volleyball team, the football team. Sister Adamson was in heaven!! Seeing all the athletic stuff again really made me miss soccer.. but it was super cool and we were able to met a lot of people on campus and start planting more seeds! It was awesome!! So we were very blessed this week! The work here is Moscow is picking up! :) Its fun to see how hard work really starts making a difference! I love you all!! have a great week :) 

Love,
Sister Adamson

You Never Know October 12, 2015

Hello Dearest Family and Friends!!

This week was just delightful! Another week on the U of I campus! I love this place, but at the same time missionary work in HARD here!! But I'm excited for another few more weeks here! I'm really loving the ward and Moscow in general. It was hard coming from celestial Sandpoint to here.. but now I love Moscow and all the amazing people I've met! Sister Bryson and I just talk to people all the day long and keep each other motivated and pumped to talk to dozens of people every day! The rejection gets hard, but you really do learn to love the little moments. I think that's one thing my mission is teaching me. Just to be grateful and be positive when life isn't going like planned. Which is often! 

So this was the week! We had a great lesson with the Carmacks about repentance. I love how the more I teach people, the more I learn myself! The Lord is cool how he set things up. He knows much he does. The Carmacks are coming back to church slowly but surely. They have made some mistakes in the past, but are ready to start changing and coming back! Its exciting to see how the gospel motivates people to change. 

Speaking of change, Kara (the YSA we have been teaching) who when we found her was an acclaimed pagan in now praying to God! And came to the two sessions of stake conference! She is making friends with the YSA and we are really working with her to be able to feel God's love for her! Its really cool to see how much happier she is becoming!! We also met a few crazies this week, hence the double application for the "You Never Know" title. This guy, named William, is a guy we street contacted at campus. Turns out he has met with missionaries a few times, but just has some problems with little things that prevent him from being baptized. But he does love the church, and severely dislikes other ones. So I asked him, if he were to be baptized in a church, which one would he chose. And i quote, "The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monsters." So yep. apparently thats a thing now. Man this world is NUTS!!!!

So this week the spirit was a little sneak! We planned to read Alma 34 with Finn and Daya this week, but before we even started he saw something in the italic section that he had a question about. So we went on a little side rout to the original plan, asked some inspired questions (its a missionary thing) and found out that after over a year and a half of investigating the church, Finn has never prayed to ask God if Joseph Smith was a prophet! Like what the noodle?? Excuse my slang. So we taught the restoration instead and committed him to do so. A few days later we stopped by and he did it! Now he believes Joseph Smith was a prophet. He just has commitment issues. Both with marriage and baptism. When we asked him about baptism, he said he believes he is getting closer. So we'll see. We keep telling them that they can't move to California.. But we know its best for them. And they will join the church soon. Of that I have no doubt! 

Also our bishop is the best ever and has a pumpkin patch up at his house so he has the whole ward come up! I love love love this ward! They are becoming my family now :) Its taken a bit for me to get used to, but I love it :) Also my PONDERIZE scripture for the week is Matt 18:4. Be humble and like little Ryder. :) I hope you know how much of an angel Ryder is!! The kids here make me want to pull my hair out sometimes.. haha. Well i love you all!! :) Also small challenge: please write to me a time where you have been blessed for keeping a commandment! Any commandment! I would love to hear :) Have a great week! 

--

Love,

Sister Adamson