November 18, 2009

A man we took on tour loved us so much, he brought us Olive Garden bread sticks.

For Bubba's birthday I wore his scarf in his honor. Will you tell him Happy Birthday for me?

My new companion, Sis. Howe. I made her a candy lei

Hello to you all,

So...here's how the phone conversation went with President. "Sister Adamson, the Lord has called you to be a trainer." "Does the Lord know how new I am?" :) Man, I was terrified!

But I am loving this! I still cannot believe the Lord has trusted me to be a trainer. Sister Howe is wonderful! She's from Ephraim, UT. A total sweetheart. I feel so honored to serve with her and never would have guessed she is new to the mission. I am trying my best to help her feel equal. Already we have seen many miracles! It makes such a difference with there is no tension in the companionship. She is so teachable, so loving.

We found a new family to teach who seem very promising. They recently had a baby and area searching for answers to their questions. Once they had accidentally attended a Community of Christ worship service and asked us about the differences and wanted to know about temples. I was so excited for an opportunity to bear my testimony about the priesthood power.

We have one investigator (seventeen years old) who keeps all her commitments and loves to learn, but her parents will not allow us to teach her. They hung up a sign on the front door telling us not to come back. This is after they had given permission to let us teach. Sister Howe and I plan to fast tomorrow for her and a few others.

On maybe her second night in the field, we went out to search out some people who had once said they were interested in the Gospel. None of them were home, so it turned into tracting. Cold and wet. We had 2 people let us in before they even knew who we were! I think sometimes, people can just feel something different about us. The first was a bit chaotic just because there were so many children. The mom is super eager to learn more. She loved the idea of having a second witness of Jesus Christ (Book of Mormon). Too bad we'll have to pass her off to another ward. She was visiting the home for the evening. The second lesson was going so great until "...And when the light rested upon me, I saw two personages" RING RING! We got interrupted by E****. He came into the apartment and just brought a horrid, contentious spirit. He is from Sudan and does NOT believe the things we were teaching his friend. It's so sad because she was so sweet and was enjoying the lesson until he popped up. He was short with us, but we left on a good note. We are going to help her find a nursing job with some help with ward members.

We are cleaning up our list of investogators. Pretty much none of them are progressing. But I absolutely KNOW the Lord will fill it again. He's done it before. I had to drop 3 over the phone this week.

Here's my favorite recent miracle. OK, when Sis Balois got transferred back to the 4th ward, she asked the old ward mission leader, Brother Tonga, who he thought we should visit. He mentioned a family. We searched our area book for former people missionaries had worked with. No luck. Then one day, out tracting, we knocked this one door. "Oh, she just left." We had no idea who she was, but he let us in for a few mins. We taught a short L1 and got a return appt. We got his name and it clicked. This is the family Bro T. wanted us to visit. So we've taught them a few times and then ... Monday night happened. We got Bro T. to tag along for the lesson. He brought his geneology, which is seriously traced back to Adam. You see, he is from royal blood from the friendly island kingdom of Tonga and he apparently paid lots of monies to get this done. He bore incredible testimony about the sealing power found only in Temples. He helped them see how we are not just another Christian church. They began to understand the importance of baptisms for the dead and eternal families. Something inside of these people finally clicked. Brother Mason was crying. We have invited them so many times to keep certain commintments with no response. This time, when Brother Tonga invited them to church, they said yes!! It was amazing.

Training is great! I still feel very new, but we are learning together and I love it. I love the gospel with all my heart. Serving a mission is the best decision I ever made. I can't wait to see more miracles! This week, I am working on really talking to everyone, even when it is uncomfortable. I will leave you with a neat quote I heard in sacrament meeting:

"A mind stretched to a new dimension will rarely return to its original state." That is how I feel. I will never be who I used to be. I am slowly trying to become who the Lord needs me to be. I'm so grateful to be serving in the Missouri Independence Mission with so many terrific missionaries. What a blessing to be the Lord's full-time servant.

With Love,

Sister Adamson