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