Some of my favorite people
Hi Everyone,
I hope you all had a fun 4th of July. Independence puts on a great fireworks show with music from a live band. Everyone from the surrounding cities comes in to watch. All the missionaries watched them from the balcony at the VC. We invited our nonmember friends up there with us and they fit right in. We ditched the balcony scene for a while and mingled with some of our friends in the ward and in past wards. It's fun being Sister Wathen's companion because she is such a social butterfly. And we have mutual friends from past areas. So fun!
We received a referral for a man who teaches an Old Testament class for a branch of the Community of Christ Church. He reminds me a lot of Gpa Porcaro, very much so a teacher. He studies Hebrew every day and knows pretty much everything there is to know about the Torah (spelling?). He is not what we would peg as a "seeker", so he has not become a priority for us to visit with, but he sure is interesting! He spent like 20 minutes talked to us about the very first verse in Genesis. Who knew there was so much symbolism and additional learning to be found? Really nice man. And his wife was so cute. She brought us out fresh fruit and drinks the first time we went over. I wish everybody would do that.
Last Sunday, Bishop randomly had my companion get up to bear her testimony. Bishop does that all the time. He is a hoot! She got up and talked about how she was coming home soon and some of the things she had learned. Then he invited a fresh RM who had gotten home 3 days earlier. He talked about how you have to live up every second of a full-time mission. It really touched me and I am so happy that I still have a few months left. I still remember how I read a John Bytheway book and he said MTC stood for Make Time Count. So true!
Every transfer, when I am filling out the dates in my planner, I choose one day that stands out and mark it as "Miracle Day". This transfer's was Wednesday, June 30th. And yes, "Miracle Day" is an understatement. We went to Liberty Jail with our friend and his daughter that we have been teaching (she is super great). In the Summer it gets really busy but somehow we didn't get combined with another group. Just the four of us had cute Sister Reid as our guide. Sister Wathen served a few transfers at the jail, so she gave a portion of the tour. For those of you who have been there, you will understand the special feeling that is there. At one point when Sis Reid was catching up on the history of what happened before Joseph was sent to the jail, I kind of tuned out. Then a very comfortable feeling came over me with the quiet impression that "This place is special. This place is sacred." Obviously, I already knew that,but I love how Heavenly Father will always be willing to give us an extra confirmation from the Spirit when we prepare ourselves to receive such an impression. I love the Holy Ghost. What a fun job He has- spend time in people's hearts and minds teaching, comforting, reminding, warning, testifying, loving. We always talk about how the Father and Son love us, but I have learned that the Holy Ghost loves us too. He may not have a body, but he knows us.
When we were in the Rotunda (which is the actual jail part of the Visitors' Center), I told everyone that the first time I walked in that door [as a missionary], I just wanted to cry. Funny how the Spirit works. Then when we were driving home, little **** said, "I had that feeling, too". I am pretty sure she has received her answer that the Church is true, now we just have to figure out the tricky situation with her mother's feelings about the Church. I know it will work out. Good thing God is the boss of His work, not me. :)
Then that night, we visited with another part member family we have been teaching. It went so well! She got a lot of her concerns out on the table and we decided that her baptism date of July 17th is solid. Woohoo! Her husband has been a member for 12 years, so for him, this is a dream come true.
We are re-teaching a family we found in the "former investigators" part of our area book. I love it when that works. It's a super cute, younger family. The teenaged girls said they always wanted to "go play with the twirly doors of that place with the Jesus statue". AKA The Visitor's Center. Funny! So we are trying to work out a time when they can come get a tour...and get their lives changed, of course.
There is a fun less active family that we visit all the time. The mom is trying to quit smoking. She is the one that inspired me to start the Addiction Recovery workbook. Anyway, we went over there and were about to start our lesson when their son goes "Is that the elders? Quick, hide!" So Sis Wathen and I escape into the kitchen. Oh my word. It was hilarious! We listened to them do the whole "How's your week been/is there anything we can do for you" thing. Then we walked casually from the kitchen with a drink and sandwich in hand as though we lived there. We sat down on the couch with an "Oh, hey elders". Their jaws just dropped and they looked so confused! Man, it was funny. We both taught a little bit. It ended up being really fun. The one elder is our district leader. He's awesome. The other one is Elder Smith that apparently went to Timpanogos. He is super funny. I'm so glad we are friends! I realized the other day that each ward in the Indep. Stake that I have served in, has been one with elders. There are only 3 ward that have elders. Basically, I have served in each. Interesting.
I'll end with a really neat experience that I had on Sunday. Background first: The Indep. newspapers and radio stations accidentally announced that the fireworks were on Sunday, but they were actually on the 3rd. So all day Sunday, we had to deal with angry people who drove all the way up here only to find out they were a day late. One such couple walked in on chaos from a fireside letting out. I happened to be by the door, so I greeted them, explained the fireworks thing and suggested we move over by the Christus statue to talk for a bit. The woman asked who the statue was of. Obviously, it's the Savior, right? She thought it was Brigham Young, the man who wrote the Mormon Book and that we worshiped him. Oh, man.
From there, I cleared up questions and just testified like crazy about Jesus Christ and how this was His church. Her "question of the soul" is "Why does God allow suffering to occur?", so I brought them over to BoM kiosk that answers that question. It transitioned perfectly into the display of the BoM in different languages. I had her read 2 Nephi 25:26 to me in German. That brought more Qs, and from there, I just used all the media we have available to teach them. It was so well orchestrated by Heavenly Father. We eventually went downstairs and did the history. At the end, I saw two members who had gotten out of the fireside early. I asked if they would join us for one last video clip. We watched it, then I gave the members an opportunity to bear testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, etc. It was beautiful. The two couples connected withing minutes and the Spirit was so strong. The member woman quoted Moroni 10:4 and invited the couple to read and pray about the things we talked about. they agreed to have missionaries sent to their home!
On the way up the stairs, the woman said (in her fun German accent) "The Lord works in mysterious ways. We came here to watch the fireworks, but the Lord knew we needed to learn about the Mormon Church." Yes, another kind of fire. Fireworks that will never end. I can testify that the Gift of the Holy Ghost is the cleansing by fire that the scriptures talk about. This is God's Church. I'm honored to be His servant.
Love you all.
Sister Adamson
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