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