Week Five

Wow I can't believe it is week 5 already!! I have 2 more P-days before I'll be in Mexico!! So crazy right?? This week has been insane, we had all of the sisters in our district leave this Monday, most of the Elders leave this Wednesday, and the last 4 were supposed to leave on Thursday but their flight was cancelled and they don't leave now until Sunday. Almost all these missionaries were supposed to leave Monday, but because of the delays, rather than getting 5 new districts in we only got 2 new districts (9 sisters and 6 elders). Our zone has a robe ceremony tradition, where there are 4 robes that we wear at night (almost like a coat) that get passed down. The 4 robes include the King Robe, Suave Robe, Stud Robe, and Chill Robe. 3 of the 4 people who currently wore the robes left this Wednesday and so Tuesday we had a Robe Ceremony where those 3 elders passed down their robes. Elder Moffitt (The old zone leader) passed to me the King Robe and I will attach Pictures of the robe ceremony. We also had some crazy times tie trading. I traded 3 ties with Elder Edgington, Elder Russon, and Elder Moffitt. These were 3 of my best friends who left this week and I will have 1 more best friend staying here with me. We signed each tie we traded and now when I wear their ties I will always remember them, which was really cool. Elder Russon and Elder Edgeington are 2 of the missionaries whose flight got delayed, and even though I am sad for them I am selfishly happy. I love spending time with them and they are only 2 of the 4 missionaries here that I would love to hang out with and see after my mission. 

With the 2 new districts coming in Elder Wanner and I were able to get to know them really, really well as zone leaders. We have had 2 long meetings with all of them to teach them about all the rules, things we have learned and to get to know them better. I really like the new districts so far. They look up to us a lot, which is really weird because in a week we just went from the youngest in the zone to the oldest in the zone. Because we only got 2 districts we still need 3 more, but because next Wednesday is Christmas we won't get any for 2 weeks (Our last week in the MTC).

Just a few spiritual thoughts to share this week:

1. President and Sister Rasband talked to us about Christ on Tuesday night. Sister Rasband told us a story about a missionary who really really wanted a shoe shine. I won't share the story because it is somewhat long and I have limited time to email, but her ultimate point was: "Shoe shine? How about a soul shine? Christ shined our soul and gave us the chance to have eternal life, what can we do for him?". This is so true, and especially during Christmas time we should all think about what we can do for him because of how much he has done for us.

2. My teacher in a lesson said the key to missionary work, and I think applies to everyday life also, is to "Be interested, not interesting". This is so true, showing our love and care for someone else is so much better than trying to be the most interesting person in the world and come off as arrogant, unintentionally.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas! I would love to hear from all of you and you are all in my hearts during this time. It is really hard being away from home for the first Christmas ever and it doesn't even feel like Christmas time because I haven't experienced the mayhem of commercialism. Merry Christmas!! Love You All!!!!

Much Love,

Elder Adams