December 15, 2009 "Exceedingly Great Joy"

Hi ev'rybody,

It's only Wednesday and we are already having a fantastic week! We have found 2 or 3 new investigators every day this week so far. I am so excited to see the miracles that will happen this Sunday. We already have about 4 people who are planning to attend the special Christmas sacrament service.

One person we met this week stands out. It had been a successful day and Sister Howe and I were about to drive home for the night. I had opened the door and was about to sit down when Sister Howe suggested we go talk to this dark man who had walked past. I was a little intimidated, but agreed. As we got closer, she asked if he was okay. I realized that he had tears in his eyes. We explained who we were and that we were here to help. He wiped his eyes and told us of his woes. The holiday season has been especially difficult for him; there are some things going on with his family. He was also dwelling on past mistakes and was overall very blue. We talked to him about Alma the Younger in the Book of Mormon and how he went through a similar experience. We read about how beautiful repentance can be and how much joy is available through understanding and living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He needed to hear that. I was so grateful that we were there and that we had answers for this man. God is so mindful of each individual. I am also for Sister Howe's example of talking to everyone. That is why I do not use the phrase "greenie". Even though she has only been on her mission for a few weeks, Heavenly Father has prepared her for years and years. She has taught me so much. I love being able to serve with her.

Friday was Zone Conference. As always, it was just what I needed. We made all sorts of goals for the new year and President Van Komen got us all excited to end the year out strong. I was enjoying myself and having a great time taking notes, etc. when my worst nightmare happened. I got called on to give what we call a "five minute talk". Each conference, President will give us a theme. We are to memorize a relevant scripture and be ready to expound on it at any time. He got the idea from one of the 12 Apostles. We are supposed to practice them in our sacrament meetings and with members. OK, so I always memorize mine to a song. This time it was to "Book of Mormon Stories". Well, it turns out when you are NOT expecting to be called on (the elder who asked me to come up had never met me before) and when there are almost 100 missionaries in the audience and your mission president and ... yeah, suddenly you can't remember how to speak English. I totally blanked in the middle of my scripture and made a total fool of myself. My hands were sweating and I wanted to throw up. I found myself saying, "I don't know. I am so nervous." I ended quickly and just felt so awful. Then President got up and he's so cute. He says, "Isn't the human brain such a phenomenal thing?" He is a doctor. "It starts working when you wake up in the morning and doesn't stop...until you have to come up here and give a talk. Well done, Sister Adamson." He is the best!!

Funny quote from the week (you will think it's even funnier if you are familiar with chapter five of "Preach My Gospel"):
Why are we all such losers? -Me
That, my friend, is a question of the soul -Sister Susan Collado

Yesterday, I was on exchanges with my trainer, Sister Moody. She goes home this week and it was her last exchange. She planned it so that she and I were her final adventure. It was soooooooo much fun! I can't even tell you! Any difficulties we may have had when we were companions is totally in the past. I love her to death. It was one of the greatest days I have seen. We went and visited a few people she knows (some we had not been working with in a while). It was so neat. We taught in almost perfect unity. We could read each others' minds, it seemed. And I realized that I have grown so much from when she was training me. I was completely comfortable talking to everyone we passed and I was able to give half the lesson (unlike before where I would go into my shell and she would take over). We found a new family to teach! And a few people we have been trying to reach for months were actually home and we got appointments for this weekend. It seriously was just miracle after miracle. And we just laughed the whole day.

Our dinner actually canceled and we remembered the Sonic Burger coupons she and I had received from some investigators about 5 months ago. We forgot that Sonic doesn't have a place to eat indoors, we are not allowed to eat in the car and it was about 15 degrees outside. We drove to a ward member's house, knocked on the door and asked if we could eat. They were redo-ing their cabinets and so the kitchen was out of whack. We ate by the fireplace and just enjoyed the funny moment. It's my favorite family, the Browns. Sis Brown will do anything for the missionaries at the drop of a hat. She's the one who used to help us with our laundry and take us out for those celestial beef brisket subs. And it was perfect because Sis Moody wanted to say goodbye to them before she heads home to CA this week. Seriously, everything just fell into place. It was a wonderful day. And both of us are training new missionaries, which means they spent the day serving together. They taught 6 lessons in 6 hours. That is amazing, in case you don't know!

So I used to talk about this one family (the woman I gave the shoes to who is struggling with addictions) all the time. The reason I haven't mentioned them in awhile is that we had an awkward run-in with the father and we turned them over to the elders to teach. Anyway, they have been out of town for conferences and things (they're the assistants to the presidents) and so they requested that we go teach them. WOOHOO!! My favorite investigator family! Long story short, we get to teach the mom in the day and the elders will be teaching the entire family at night. Today, we went over and it went so well. I miss them so much. Their 13-year old daughter who got baptized a while ago is a Saint. She really holds the family together. It's so inspiring. When they say this is the "chosen generation", they're not kidding. We played that song "This is the Christ", which I think is written by Pres. Faust. She, the mom, loved it. She is getting baptized on Saturday. I love feeling that I have helped get her ready.

Not much time left. Love you all! I'm having such a good time. I know the Gospel is true and I love how each of us can have that witness as we make the effort.

Love you muchly,

sister roo adamson HAPPY HOLIDAY-INGS

PS a reminder to friends that I love getting your emails, but I cannot respond until you provide your home address. Snail mail-boo

December 9, 2009 "Happy Holidays"

Hi everyone,

We had a great week! Though a few (feels like a million) of our appointments have canceled on us, we had success this week. We had one really neat experience where a less active member-woman we are working with asked for a priesthood blessing. Her husband is not very nice to her and does not support her in her faith. She feels very alone and just needed a boost. We asked the senior elder on shift at the VC (where we were for the lesson) to give the blessing. It was beautiful. She was promised that if she continued to be faithful, her husband would soften and follow her example. Holy smokes! He is a hard one, if you know what I mean. We were all crying, not able to express how strong the feeling was in the room. I loved it. She is going to change her attitude, I know it. I can't wait to see her get to the temple! She is ready to start on that path and it is so exciting.

There’s this one family we are teaching where the parents are like in and out. They like us coming over and everything, they just don’t really get who we are. But last time we went, we both felt very strongly that we were there for their 13 year old daughter. She knows her stuff. She was telling us what she thinks the gift of tongues is. It’s totally Mormon doctrine. So interesting! She reads the Bible for fun. Yes, she is 13. Who is this generation? She could be like the General Young Womens president someday. I’m serious.

A sister in the ward we have been trying to get a hold of since July FINALLY let us in for a lesson. OK, so I tricked her and asked for some hot chocolate. We sat in her kitchen and talked about her recent divorce. She has picked up smoking and wants to quit. She offered to feed us dinner another night. Woohoo! She got talking about how the only religious thing lately in her life is this book her sister suggested- Anita Stansfield's "the Guardian", I guess. She said she read this one line about the Atonement and started bawling. She knelt down and prayed for the first time in months and months. She could feel Heavenly Father just carrying her. How wonderful is that?! Then we told her that we felt inspired to talk about that very thing with her tonight. We explained that we always pray before we go to someone’s house and confirm with god what we should prepare to teach. With her, we had planned to talk about the Atonement. We shared some comforting scriptures and tried to let her know how much she is loved. It went really well. Something so interesting about being a missionary- I can FEEL how much God loves these people. Even total strangers. I wish they knew what I felt around them. I wish each of us really knew. It’s kind of weird, but wonderful. Here is something neat we talked about in Relief Society on Sunday. When Christ goes to the Garden, he askes his apostles to stay, to wait, to stay awake or whatever. He shows us that we need each other. It’s okay to ask for help. In fact, we should ask for help. We are placed in the specific families, the groups of friends, the circle of coworkers etc. for a reason. We are here to lift each other. So thank you, all of you, for helping to lift me.

May each of you find the time to meditate this week and think about Christ and really what we can learn from Him. Please take a second to say a prayer, thanking Heavenly Father for sending His son. Life would not be possible without our Redeemer Jesus Christ.

Love you,

Sister Roo

December 2, 2009 "My First Baptismal Challenge!"

Me with the Ward Missionaries -The Andrees- on Thanksgiving

Me with a man who had an original 1830 Book of Mormon -click on it to zoom in on the title page! So cool!

Woohoo! I feel so pumped. If you remember last week, my zone leader challenged me to invite ALL of our investigators to be baptized. We have a little pool of about 10 people we are working with. We dropped 2 and found another 2. Funny how that works. Anyway, up to this point, I had never asked anyone to be baptized. But we keep having these trainings lately about creating an environment, not just wishing the moment would arise.

We did it! We invited someone to be baptized. I don't even care that she said "I don't know" and that she would pray about. I did my job! The Spirit will do the rest.

Anyway, I had the spiritual highlight of my mission (so far) on Monday. Really, I think I should call it "The first of many spiritual highlights" So backing up a week or so. I may have written about this young woman last week...she let us right in before she knew who we were. She was visiting her aunt and lives in FL. We decided to try her aunt on Monday. But it was the same girl who answered! We had a team up with us, my favorite sister in the ward. It was amazing. Turns out, this cute girl was studying about "fasting" in the bible and thinking about our last visit when we knocked. She was planning to leave for the airport in an hour. She recognized that we were an answer to prayer. She is 18 and trying to figure out life. She is searching. She has been reading the Book of Mormon. We found her the nearest chapel to attend on Sunday when she goes back to FL. She talked about her grandmother who passed away. I was so so so happy to testify with absolute confidence that she will see her grandma again. I love teaching people about Heavenly Father's perfect Plan. She wanted to know everything! She took notes and was highlighting the verses we shared. I have never met anyone so ridiculously prepared for the message of the restored gospel. She wants to serve a mission! She asked for all of our phone numbers and addresses to keep in contact. She said we changed her life. The discussion, by the end, turned into "when you join the church", not if. There are no words to describe how I felt. Alma uses the phrase "that joy which is unspeakable and full of glory". That'll have to do. :)

I feel so blessed to be a VC sister, where I have the chance to call her from our referral center. I can keep in contact with her! I love that! I just have this feeling we will be friends forever. I love her so much.

What else happened this week? I bought a pair of schmancy boots. I know, I know. I feel like a rockstar. They're pretty great. funny story with that, though. It was last preparation day and we needed to get permission to go to the mall to look for boots. We had been giggling about it, because we have to get permission from these little elders who were born in 1990...Yeah, they're like 12. Sister Howe was mid laugh when they called us back. Instead of explaining anything about my boots, she just spits out "Elder, can we go to the mall? hee hee hee" Oh my gosh. It was hi-lar-ious! He made us promise no window shopping.

We have certain families the bishop wants us to focus on. The one picture I sent once with the old man with no teeth, with pizza on his mouth- he is not a member and his family is one of ours to teach. His wife has been less active for years and years. AND she has come to church for the last 3 weeks. I actually am doing some good out here. thanks, Heavenly Father. We planned a pizza party/date night with this family and our ward missionaries. They. hit. it. off. They're best friends now and were planning a camping trip for the spring. We had them watch a movie after we left to get to another appointment. I guess the four of them talked about it afterward and stayed up until 1 AM discussing eternal families and temples! I love it! They're like in their 60s, by the way. How cute is that?

We had a full proselyting day and I was on exchanges with a new sister (Sis Moody is training her). She has a lot of the same challenges I had when I first came out, so we bonded really well. We found a few new people to teach and tried to drop one woman who just will never make appointments and she turned it around and made an appointment for the first time! We're seeing her at the VC on Saturday.
And we're gonna (with lots and lots of help from Above) commit her for baptism. Wish me success!

We're singing a song in Samoan tonight, as a zone, for the stake presidency and our mission president and lots of other important people. We have been practicing at 6AM the last few mornings. It's actually been fun! "Tula I Mai a ... O mai a iSiona" I love it! I may just come home saying "Talofa" all the days. Who knows?

Ahh! It's just been a week of miracle after miracle. It's about time for the sisters in the Inde 4th ward. We have the assistants to the president in our ward and it's so difficult when they unknowingly steal all of the members we are trying to work with. They've had lots of baptisms lately and I just feel like it's about to go up for the sisters. And we're gonna do it in half the time (because of the VC schedule).

A gentle reminder, when you email me, please put your home address, so I can write back.

Man, I am so blessed to be here in Zion. When we sing "As Sisters in Zion", it's like...legit. Keep doing missionary work in your own way. It's making a difference in this crazy world. Thanks for your love, your prayers, your letters and emails. I will try to write everybody back!

Lots and lots and lots of L-O-V-E,

Sister Roo Adamson