January 25, 2010 "Rolla Coasta"

Never a dull moment

L-R: Sister Velky (recent convert, we will be moving into her house next month); Sister Chandler; the pistachio cake she made me!!; me, happy to be eating a green cake

Hello everyone!

Hope you are having a fabulous week. Thank you for your letters and support. I have the best friends and family ever.

OK, first things first:
1. We got approved to play LASER TAG as a zone next preparation day!
2. Elder Bednar is coming to the mission Feb 6th!
3. I saw a UFO is someone's backyard the other day
4. Last night, Sister Frandsen made me laugh so hard that I threw up
5. I learned this week what a google is. Now you're curious, aren'tcha?
6. I also learned an apple a day not only keeps the doctor away, but gives you the energy that a cup of coffee would and is nature's toothbrush
7. Sister Frandsen and I are morphing into one. When we watch videos that we have made, we honestly cannot tell who is who
8. One of our golden investigators is now in jail. That is rough
9. People here put deer heads in their trees
10. I love reading the Book of Mormon

It's been an interesting week, as you can see. Miracle story time. Last Tuesday, we get a call out of the blue. "Hi, my name is A---. I would like to join your church. When can we get together?" We pretty much dropped everything and went over there. We committed her and her daughter for baptism on the 31st. Her husband is less active. Somehow, their family did not show up on our list of people to visit. Holy smokes. It was phenomenal. We have since taught her a few more times and she came to church yesterday! She is bi-polar and experiences a lot of anxiety in large crowds. It was kind of overwhelming, but still things went well. It's a good thing it's a branch, so there are only like 50 people at church. Before you know it, it will be a ward at the rate things are going.

I never want to go back to the Visitor's Center. Transfer calls are a week from now. Both Sis F and I feel we will stay together in Mound City, but you never know.

Life is good, life is great. Hard things happen, but it's kind of a compliment from Heavenly Father because he knows you can handle it. Love you all!! Read the Book of Mormon. It is Christ's words. It will make you happy.

-Sister Adamson

January 18, 2010 "Miraculous Miracles in the Missouri Independence Mission"

TLC is now "tender, loving Chandler". This is our new cat, Jinx, snuggled by Branch Pres. Chandler. So darling.

Oh, what sister missionaries will do for a object lesson.

Hello Family and Friends,

I feel like the veil was so thin this week. Never in my life have I felt so much joy and fulfillment. Besides people being receptive to the Restored Gospel who never were before (sometimes sisters get in doors that elders never could, just because we are girls) and people in the branch who have been less active now showing interest, we had 3 huge things happen this week.

Tuesday night, we looked at our blank schedule for the next day. As I went to say we should go to a new town, the words "Blue Mound" came out of my mouth. We had only seen it on a map a few times and knew nothing about it. Knowing Heavenly Father would provide a team-up, we found some names in the Area Book and made plans to check up on them. Last second, of course, everything worked out. When we got to Blue Mound (a million miles away), we saw a man walking down the street and feeling prompted to talk to him, we followed him to his house. All we said was "We felt impressed to come talk to you." He warmly invited us in and was very open to our message because... he had been SO prepared. He was in the Marines in the Middle East and had attended a "Mormon church" and was fascinated. He had been studying the Book of Mormon for years and even has used it in weddings he has performed. You can imagine he was delighted to find out that a Latter-Day Saint chapel was a few miles from his house! He couldn't come to church yesterday, but we are excited to see him next time. We have an appointment this week and we think a church tour would really touch his heart.

Miracle number 2: Driving down the road with our team-up on Saturday, we felt prompted to stop the car and talk to a woman outside. We let fear creep in a little since it was such an awkward situation. After a prayer, we just got out and approached her. It was amazing! She felt that God had led us to her. She invited herself to church and referred a friend before we even asked. I wouldn't believe it myself if I hadn't been there. To make a long story short she came to church yesterday, soaked everything up, caught herself saying "we believe", prayed for us saying "our missionaries" and even paid tithing at the end. Yes, she wanted to pay tithing when we never mentioned it. She referred her friend, which brings us to our third miracle.

We decided a blind approach would be best. Before we even explained who we were, the referred friend let us in. They have had quite a few deaths in the family. She named one (the children's father) and my breath caught. There is a note on our whiteboard from the elders last transfer saying to find this man's family. Everyone in the room was teary-eyed when we explained we had been praying to find them for over a month. She asked if we could come back on a weekly basis, said she knew we were representatives of Jesus Christ and told us it was the first time she had felt true joy in a long time.

I know Heavenly Father answers prayers. I know it. Things are happening in Mound City. We are so pumped that today, we are giving up a few hours of our preparation day as a gift to our Father.

Do all you can to be worthy of the Holy Ghost. He will tell you where you need to be, put words in your mouth and give you the courage to share the Gospel. I think often of the words from my call. To paraphrase and add application to you, more happiness awaits you than you can ever imagine as you serve the Lord, forget yourself and speak His words. I know this is true. It's happening to me right now. I can't explain to you how full my heart is. Thank you for your prayers.

Sister Adamson

January 11, 2010 "From Your Less-Active Missionary"

Snow in Inde, outside the stake center for zone conference.

Yes, I am getting fat out here. I haven't measured, but Sis F may or may not have grown an inch and a half since living with "the best baker in Miami county"= Sister Chandler

Parts of our zone: Elders Shepherd, Dodds, Bradshaw, Hayter and Zaugg and Sister Frandsen

Here is our buried car. I love my life. We had to borrow a shovel from the neighbor because the plastic bucket wasn't cutting it for Sister Frandsen. Then Pres C came up behind us with his tractor and saved the day.

Do you see the drifted snow? This is the Chandler's kitchen and the snow outside is like 4 feet deep. Awesome

This is to prove I actually am on a mission and don't just take silly pictures. This was right before the story last week about the house on Orange Street.

Hi fam and friends,

**Important!* The mission office can no longer forward our mail. Something about it being illegal. From now until Feb 1st (transfers are on Feb 4th, I think) please write me at this address, so I actually get them. If not, they will sit in Independence and I WILL NOT GET YOUR LETTERS OR PACKAGES UNTIL FEB 4TH: Sister Adamson (President Jim Chandler) 38513 Jingo Road
LaCygne, KS 66040 I bet Google can't even find that because it's in the middle of nowhere land.

Let me first explain the subject line. I heard that if you do not attend church for a month, you are considered less active. Well! From all the ice and then a flood from water lines breaking yesterday, I pretty much am the only missionary in the world who is not going to church. They have now canceled 3 weeks in a row!

Zone Conference was up in Independence, MO! It was the best! It was just what I needed. We had had a bummer week with 2 days where we were snowed in (Kansas isn't used to this much snow, so there is no budget for clearing the roads). It was amazing. All my old friends were there: the VC sisters and the senior couples from the mission office. I felt like a million bucks. And it was so much fun to show off my doll of a companion to everybody. Sis Frandsen is a social, bubbly lass. She was so excited to meet people. Also can I just add that we have the greatest district leader ever? He's from Orem. We have a lot of fun together with no weirdness.

One of the trainings was on how we need to give our whole hearts to Lord, be 10 yard missionaries.We watched a movie clip were this football player does the Death Crawl. Everyone in the room was bawling. Sister Frandsen and I both got the idea that to make it up to the Lord for our lost time when we were snowed in,we would give up some hours of our preparation day. We also fasted the next day. Oh my word. God is in charge, of that I can testify. Somehow, we taught 6 lessons on Saturday with lots of travel time in between. That is pretty much impossible out here because when you visit someone, they assume it's for 3 or 4 hours. But He blessed us with quick lessons and people who were kind to let us in out of the cold. OK, so I am starting to understand what windchill really means. It has been like -1 below F, but feeling like -15 below. It's fun! I seriously think something is wrong with me. I don't get as cold as most folks do.

Another thing I have learned about small towns: word travels fast. We had a bit of drama this week with some misunderstandings. Everyone knows everyone, so it got a little bit messy. Without providing details, I will just tell you that prayer and laughter can fix just about anything.

We had a neat thing happen this week: 2 young women we are teaching tested out the idea of flipping open your scriptures to a random page for an answer to prayer. Guess what the verse read?: "And they were all baptized". Boo-yah. We just heard that from their friends who are members of the branch, so we will ask them about it today or tomorrow. God has the greatest sense of humor.

Things are gettin' a move on in the Mound City Branch. Sis Frandsen and I feel like something really big is right around the corner. The average number of baptisms in the branch has been like 1 every few years or something. The Olathe stake (Olathe is pronounced oh-LAY-thuh) set a goal of 9 for our branch this year and Sis F and I are bound and determined to achieve it.

She is the best, Sister Frandsen. We stayed up the other night for like an hour, laughing about nothing. It made me miss my pals. I'm so grateful for a companion that I can tell anything and everything to.

Love you lots. I'm having fun, we're workin' hard. We are seeing success because with God nothing is impossible. He is real, He knows your name and if you let Him, He will guide you carefully along.

-Sister Adamson

January 5, 2009

Hi everyone,

Sorry, I only have a few minutes. I hate the time restraint. Umm, We had an amazing week!! the next 2 paragraphs are quoting what I wrote to our mission president:

This week my testimony of fasting has grown. I know Heavenly Father sees our sacrifice and is willing to bless us when we make the effort. Sister Frandsen and I are still trying to figure out how missionary work can best be done out here in Mound City, KS. It seems the elders in the past spent much of their time earning the respect and love of the community. They offered many hours of service and we are now able to see the benefits of their work. Apparently, the surrounding cities do not feel too kindly toward "Mormons" because of some crimes done by members years ago, BUT they are slowly seeing we are not a threat. However, we feel strongly that we need to change the habits around here. "Preach My Gospel" teaches us that people are best helped by understanding the message of the Restored Gospel more than any other thing. Currently, we are trying to balance our time between some community service and mostly teaching members and nonmembers. It's quite an adjustment for the area. Things are much slower paced out here than I am used to. We have had to take control of situations and leave homes before hours and hours are spent at one place. Coming from the Visitors' Center, I have seen how time is such a precious gift. I have come to find it is a resource that can easily be unwisely used. This week, we had a lot of success and we hope to continue as we prepare people for baptism.

I will share one experience we had this week. We visited a less active family. Their 21-year old son answered and invited us in. We briefly visited with him and found out he had received the missionary lessons when he was growing up in Utah, but was never baptized because he felt his friends were influencing him too much. He didn't want to "jump on the train" when his parents joined the Church. We set up a time to visit again. The second time, we found him eager to learn more. He had been reading the Book of Mormon we left and had many intelligent questions about it. The Spirit was very strong as we explained how he will recognize his answer from Heavenly Father. Our team-up shared her conversion story and they connected very well. Basically, by the end of the appointment, this young man was talking about "when" he would receive his answer that these things are true, not "if". We were so impressed with how mature and humble he is. Each thing we suggested for him to do before our next meeting he took seriously and asked for clarification. Next, we just need to figure out how to best involve his parents and get them active in the Church again.

We were driving to this one city that we have only been to like 2 times. We took a wrong turn and got going down this street we shouldn't have been on. I saw that a train was blocking the road and so I started looking around to see where we might be able to turn around. "O Street. There is someone on O St we are supposed to check up on..." We had tried the home before and had given up on it. But Heavenly Father knew Mr. M was home! We got an appointment with him for a few days later. So great! A lesson I keep having to learn again and again is: Don't make the Spirit tell you things over and over. Just listen the first time.

Church was canceled again due to loads of snow. I learned the meaning of a new word: windchill. One of the counselors in the branch presidency invited us over to watch a few sessions of general conference. It was really neat. I was unable to watch it since I had been on shift at the VC back in October. Man-- so good.

I was...hmmm, not complaining...just letting my district leader know how difficult it has been to get stuck at people's houses for hours at a time when I am used to 40 min lessons. He thought that meant I was "good" at time management and had me do a training at our meeting on Friday. It was kind of fun. I hope I didn't come off "holier than thou" ish. I got everyone's ideas of how to help people understand why we are there, etc. I have no idea what I am doing out here. I am so grateful for prayer!

We met this man whose nickname is Tree. I don't have much time to explain, but just know he changed my life. I have never felt so connected to someone in such a short amount of time.

Well, I love you all. Thank you for all you do. you're the best! The Gospel is true. God lives. Live up every second. Life is so short.




Love,

Sister Adamson

December 28, 2009 "White Wash"

This is the first time we got lost. If anyone has an extra GPS, send it my way!!

Beagle Kansas, in Pres Chandler's words, "Now here's a nice, little town, wasn't it?"

A branch member's home had this hammock out front. I love it! In the middle of winter.

It was so much fun to talk to the fam. I wanted to surprise you when I called from the middle of nowhere, Kansas. My new area is called Mound City Branch. I’m with darling Sister Kimberly Frandsen from South Jordan, UT. She is pretty much the actress from the Notebook. She is super cute and we get along great! We were "blind transferred" or "white washed" into the area, meaning neither one of us knows left from right. It's the first time these little towns have ever seen sister missionaries. The elders here have only been a part of the branch for about a year, if I understand right.

Turns out the people here are used to lessons, which take hours and hours. Some were surprised when we wanted to share a spiritual thought. I feel like a fish out of water, but it's a fun challenge. I miss the family of the Visitors' Center sisters, but there is an even stronger family here in the Mound City area. Each person we have met so far is wonderful! The branch members will do anything for the missionaries. ANYthing. It blows my mind. Some struggles we can sense are trying to keep lessons short, staying within our allotted car miles, and finding new investigators. The people here react very differently to missionaries than I am used to. We have heard that in the past, there have been some messy situations involving members of the church, so there is quite an “Anti-Mormon” tension. I know Heavenly Father placed Sister Frandsen and I together to get the work really moving out here. She and I are always on the same brain wave. It’s nuts! We will need to rely more on inspiration than ever because we need new ideas and we are both so new, neither one of us knows what to do. Living with the branch president has been such a blessing. He and Sister Chandler have been so very helpful in getting us adjusted to the branch.

OK, so Christmas was a blur. We met a bunch of people from the branch and ate lots of food. Everywhere we went, they had gifts for us. One sister gave us a huge bag of super useful stuff like sunglasses, nylons, one of those nighttime eye masks (ha ha!). Everyone here is so loving. I can't even get over it. My last area, it was a big sacrifice for sisters to come on team-ups for a few hours because they were so busy, but here life is slower paced, so they can dedicate a large amount of time.

Sis Chandler and I do yoga every single morning. She is ha-LAR-ious. She enjoys baking, which is making us even fatter, because we enjoy eating. Pres. Chandler is a gentle lamb. He has a hearty, contagious laugh that shakes the house. He is very willing to help and often stays up late with us, teaching us the ropes. People are missionary-minded and excited to share the Gospel with their friends, however their friends seem to not progress. The investigators we have met and read about from the area book seem to want a friend more than to learn more about the Church. I don't know, though. I am sure I am judging too soon. Funny quote:

"I'm from South Jordan. It's kind of a suburb. You know, like houses and stuff, near a big city. Have you heard of Salt Lake?" -Sis F
"Yeah, I know what a suburban is". - boy named ***

Awkward.

I find myself saying phrases like "Man, I am so used to..." or "It wasn't this way in my last area" a lot. It's such an adjustment.

Welp! Time to go!

Love you!