Week 30

June 16, 2014

Wow, 30 weeks in the mission,! This is my last week in this change and even though it has flown by I feel like I have been in the mission so much longer than I actually have been, it is a weird phenomenon. This Saturday we will have changes, I don’t know what will be happen to be honest. I have a feeling that if my companion leaves that I will stay here as District Leader but I also have a feeling that my companion is going to stay here for his last change.... We will see what happens.

Happy Fathers Day!! I sent Dad a small email but just wanted to say Happy Fathers Day to him and all the other Fathers in the world. Thank you for everything you have done for the family, and me for your example and helping me in all things, I love you Dad!

Just a few things that are happening here in Mexico:

First, the world cup has started, which means that the streets here are dead... especially when Mexico is playing. It is kind of funny to see how many people are in their shops with the TV on watching the world cup.

Second, I thought getting sent out to the country would mean I would be getting away from English music... oh to the contrary! My neighbors apparently love English music and blast all the songs that I love every morning during our studies... oh it is so hard to pay attention to my studies sometimes.... haha

Lastly just a few funny stories:

1^st: we have an amazing investigator named Marleen who will be getting baptized in July. She is single with 4 kids but lives with her parents and a couple siblings and we teach them all, but she is the only one who has gone to church and absolutely loves it, but here is the funny story: We were teaching the family and the brother asked us "Hey don’t you guys have a lot of wives??" We responded "No there are lots of things that people say about us Mormons that aren’t true such as (and gave some examples)" then he had the funniest response ever he said, "Oh man, well I just lost a little bit of respect for you guys, I always had a TON of respect for you guys, to be able to have tons of wives and I can’t even seem to get one...." hahaha it was pretty funny.

2^nd: My companion started to contact a couple and contacted the guy. He started to explain that we share a special message about how our families can live together forever. The man was kind of rude and said in a sense, "No I’m not interested keep on walking.." What happened next is hilarious and even more funny in Spanish so I am going to put in the dialogue in Spanish and translate. The girlfriend turned to the man and slapped him and said "Como que no quieres una familia eterna conmigo!?!? Sabes que? Olvídate de mi!" and started to walk off and boyfriend tried stopping her but she said "No! Sabes que, es mejor si no me buscas!" and she left. In small words she basically said, "How is it that you don’t want an eternal family with me!?!? You know what forget about me!! Don’t come chasing after me!" hahaha it was really funny, a little sad, but funny.

Just a quick spiritual thought before I have to get off: This week I got an email from Steve Kent who was explaining his thoughts on the principle of fasting. The apostles have said that a fast without a prayer is nothing more than a diet. Steve came to the conclusion that he can give up anything that he loves for a certain amount of time as a sacrifice to God. As I was thinking about that this week I fully agree and I believe that is why missionaries have so many spiritual experiences, with tons of revelation, because in that sense a mission is basically a 2 year fast. We give up all the things and people we love for 2 years to serve the Lord. But the mission isn’t the only example of this, almost all the youth in the world today have their most spiritual experiences at camps such as Young Women’s camp, EFY, Hill Cumorah Pageant, Helaman’s camp etc. Yes a part of that spirituality comes from the fact that they are studying a lot about God but I also think a lot of it comes from the fact that in essence, these camps are a week long fast. These kids give up 1 or more weeks of their precious summers to God, and in that I believe that they are able to feel the sprit stronger and have more personal revelation through this "week fast".

Well, it is time for me to get off now. I hope you are all doing well. I love and miss you all tons! I will post a few pictures from last week that I wanted to send but I love you all!!

Love,

Elder Adams