Time Flying By (July 26, 2014)

July 26, 2014

Wow the time here in the offices is flying by, next week we will have changes again and it feels like I just barely got here. Things are going really, really well here and I love it but not a whole lot to talk about this week just a few highlights.

We have been teaching Abby and it is going really, really well. She should be getting baptized tomorrow if she can get work off but that looks really hard as of right now and so she will probably get baptized next week. 

We have a new AP in the offices and he is awesome! I miss Elder Noel, we had a ton in common and we became really best friends, but Elder Ramirez is pretty awesome. He is from Guatemala and he is super, super funny. Its fun hanging out with him and I think it will be a fun time having him in the offices.

Lastly, working with President has been so awesome and such an amazing experience and President is so happy with my work and always tells me how I am an amazing secretary, which always makes me feel good. :) The AP he just barely dropped off at the airport to go home is an ex- financial secretary and the best one he has ever had. President told him at the airport that he doesn't think he will ever have a financial secretary as good as him, but later told me that if anyone could be as good as he was, or at least come close, he told me it would be me. President has tons of confidence in my companion and I and always talks about how he doesn't know what he would do without us. Also I told him that Emily was going to Dixie State and he was so animated, told me to give him her name and he was going to pull every string he has at Dixie (which is a lot) to make sure Emily has the best freshman experience possible. He was like "I’ll call the dean of students and make sure he meets with her personally and can get to know her to help her out in whatever she needs." It was really cool and funny to see how animated he got. Working with President is the best and I couldn't have asked for a better experience thus far in the offices.

Elder Adams 

Time Flying By photos

 My Zone

My companion and I in the mirror house.

 The view of the park from the Chapultepec Castle

Flying Time (July 19, 2014)

July 19, 2014

Wow time seems to be rushing by so fast now... I have been in Mexico for 5 moths and I still remember my first day with Elder Herd like it was yesterday. Speaking of Elder Herd, I miss him tons and I hope he’s doing well. So I love actually doing things here on P-days. There are really, really cool areas here in Mexico and in the position that my companion and I are in we get to go visit them every P-day, when normally out in the field we just kick back and relax. Today we went to Chapultepec Park, which is the coolest thing I have done here in Mexico. First we went to the zoo for about 2 hours, it is a huge zoo and is so much fun! We saw tons of different types of monkeys, panda bears, jaguars, lions, bears, leopards, venomous snakes, birds, tons of different animals. It was SO cool. Afterwards we walked around the park and the lake and it was super, super fun. Lastly we went to the Chapultepec Castle, which is massive, super pretty, and has tons of really, really cool art in it. It was a really, really fun day and beautiful. It has been raining a ton recently, but today was about 80-90 degrees with nothing but blue skies. The Chapultepec castle has an amazing view and it was so pretty. 

This week was a little crazy, with some crazy stories and a few cool things but first things first…the other day we saw a Ferrari, 2 Porches, multiple BMWs and a Maserati... if that doesn't give you an idea about how rich my area is then I don't know what will... haha.

This week we had our zone conferences, which we got to help with, which was really cool. Lastly for the crazy stories this week…we had 2 Elders get rushed to the hospital. Basically what happened is they have their tank of gas inside their house and forgot to turn it off after taking a shower in the morning. During their studies they got really, really light headed and felt sick so they called Sister Whitehead and she found out they had fasted yesterday until this morning and so she thought it was for that and told them to sleep until 10:30 and then to go out and work. At 12 she got a call from a member who they had an appointment with at 11 and they weren't answering their phones and she was worried. Sister Whitehead sent two other Elders over there and they had to break into the house through the window and found Elder Puerto and Elder McCubbins passed out on the floor unconscious, laying in their own vomit. They got rushed to the hospital and after a few hours Elder Puerto woke up and was doing fine. Elder McCubbins on the other had woken up but was way, way out of it, couldn't put words together and they were afraid he had brain damage. They took tests and said they would be able to see what was going on in the morning. After the tests President was finally able to give him a blessing and about 15 minutes later he snapped back to reality. They are still under the hospital care trying to get rid of the carbon monoxide poisoning, but are doing well. It is amazing to see the power of a priesthood blessing. 

Lastly, just a quick update on our investigators and a few spiritual thoughts to chew on. Last week even though we had 8 people committed to come to church, only one ended up coming because of the World Cup. This week we should have a few people at church and we are taking one investigator to the English ward in the morning because she can’t go to the Spanish ward because of her work, so we are going to take her to the English ward and translate for her, which will be fun. She is our best investigator right now and we have plans to baptize her the 3rd of August.

Here in the offices I get to listen to lots of talks and of course I love all the ones by Elder Holland but I just wanted to give you links to 3 talks which are all AMAZING!! One of them is actually the link to the video that I was talking about in my first change and really helps me when I have a hard day. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb4CQ4W1qnU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6FKiNVbw3Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2WMaRkvZPg

Well my companion has a lot of my pictures on his camera because my camera died in the park but here are a few pictures from the zoo. Love and miss you all!!

Love,

Elder Adams

Flying Time photos

My zone in Chapultepec

Chapultepec Park-Japanese monkeys 

Chapultepec Park-Panda bear

8 Months!

July 12, 2014

Well I have 8 months in the mission, it is kinda crazy to think about, but it has been an awesome experience so far. The offices are still amazing! This week we did a ton of errands for President because it was a super busy week. We went to the airport twice, once to fix a green card and another time to take the Sellers home. We are officially moved in to our hotel. It is really, really nice-the nicest bed I have had in the whole mission, maid service which makes life great, and we have a free Continental breakfast!! Today for P-day we went to Zocalo which was awesome and I will attach a few pictures. We also ate at a super fancy restaurant with some members from the English ward. Next week we have plans to go to the aquarium and art museum, then the next week to the Chapultapec castle and zoo over there!! I love the offices!!! 

My trainer here in the offices left this last Monday and headed out to Maravatio Michiocan. Although I love him a ton we didn’t work really hard out in the field while he was here, but Elder Christensen and I really have made a point to do all we need to do here in the offices, AND to work really, really hard out in the field because we only have a few hours everyday and our work is really paying off. I love my companion. He is from Burley ID and is the oldest of 7 kids. He is really kind, really funny, and a blast to be around. We both work really, really well together and it has been such an awesome time here in the offices with him, the APs and President.

I want to give you a quick update on our investigators and how they are progressing:

1. Brenda is a mom who is about 30-35 years old, she is really, really awesome and really wants to know about the church, study it well, and actually does all of our "homework" and really loves learning. She doesn't want to be baptized until she knows more (which is very strange in Mexico) but is really working hard to learn and do her own part. Her husband is not interested at all in the church but she has a kid who is 10 a kid who is 8 and one who is 7. The kids have gone to church and liked it and Brenda will be going to church tomorrow with her 3 kids for the second time.

2. Enrique and Andrea. Enrique is a less active that we have been working with and just found out that he lives with his girlfriend. His girlfriend is really catholic and says that "she doesn't want to change religions" but is interested in learning and is really supportive about going to church with Enrique. She will be going to church for the second time tomorrow and we will work on helping her.

3. Abby, Abby is from Puebla but works here as a maid. She lives here with the 2 other maids in the hose of here boss. She is awesome and was a reference from Temple Square because she has member family members. She has a date to be baptized the 10th of August and the biggest problem right now is that she works every other Sunday and sometimes on Sunday when she doesn't work she goes to Puebla but we have plans for her to go for the first time tomorrow.

4. Jessica and Juan, Jessica and Juan are a family that we met last week and they are really really kind and a good family oriented family, they like taking family walks with there little 3 year old and doing things as a family. Juan isn’t super interested in the church but his wife is, she will be coming to church with us for the first time this Sunday and we are hoping to work with Juan through her.

We have more investigators than this but this are the ones that are progressing really well. Elder Christensen and I are working really, really hard and are seeing the fruits from our work. Our numbers apparently are the highest that President has seen in his year in the mission from the secretaries. 

Just to end the email I would like to put in a quote that I really like. Working here in the offices we get to listen to talks from general authorities as we work. I have really fallen in love with the talk "Safety for the soul" by Elder Holland (You should look it up it is amazing!). Basically it is a talk about the Book of Mormon and there is a quote that I really like from it that says: "No wicked man could write such a book as this, and no good man would write it, unless it were true, and he was commanded by God to do so."

Well I love you all and hope you all have a great week! Be safe and don’t have too much fun without me! ;)

Love,

Elder Adams

8 months pictures

The APs passed out on the couch last Pday... haha 

My MTC companion and I are in the same zone this change

The big church at Zocalo 

 Me at Zocalo

Second Week in the Offices

July 5, 2014

Well the offices are really, really great so far, I love all the work that I am doing here, but the best part is being so close to President and always being with the APs. Today for P-day we went out and ate with President and are going to play racquetball at a member’s house after we are done emailing. Yes, the member has a racquetball court in his house. I feel like being in the offices will be cutting a lot from my emails just because I don't have as many crazy, cool, or spiritual stories to share, but I will continue to try and fill up my emails with all the stories that I do have. 

First thing, Elder Christensen and I are going to be having a TON of weight dropped on our shoulders and go through a lot of changes. The senior couple, the Sellers, who work in the offices with us will be leaving the Monday, which is really, really sad because we love them so much, but their replacements won’t be coming until August. This means that my companion and I will have to pick up their workload, and a not so difficult task of occupying their hotel room until the new senior couple comes. Because we will be living in the hotel we will have maid service, and a free continental breakfast, which will be nice. Secondly both of the APs are going home this change, one in 3 weeks and the other in 5, which means we will have 2 new APs coming into the offices and be learning how to run everything. Lastly, we are having a huge influx of missionaries, so over the next 2 months President has to open up 17 new areas for missionary work, and being his secretaries means we have to do a TON of work to get those areas opened. 

Secondly, yesterday I got your package, being in the offices is awesome because that means when the packages arrive here in Mexico, I have the package! I don't have to wait for 2-4 weeks till it can get sent out to my area. It came as perfect timing because I was really bummed I didn't have a blue, red and white tie for the 4th of July but it came right in time! (PS we aren't aloud to wear skinny ties. Our ties have to be wider than 4 fingers and that tie is skinnier than my four fingers. But it’s bigger than one of the APs fingers so President gave me permission to wear it-but just a heads up for the future). As yesterday was the 4th of July we had a celebration here in the offices (As 6 of us are American and 1 is Mexican.) We sang the star spangled banner, said the pledge of alliance and my companions and I cooked hot dogs over the stove and made pork and beans. It was a really fun day and we had a lot of fun with it. 

Lastly, they just opened a new aquarium here in our area in a town called Polanco, it is also next to a huge art museum, both of which have gotten amazing reviews and we have heard lots of good things about them. The aquarium is 10 dollars (about 120 pesos) and the Art museum is free. My companion and I will definatly be going there on a P-day which will be a lot of fun, but first we have to visit Socalo! Socalo is a huge tourist spot in Mexico, it has really, really cool pyramids and tons of little shops. One of the little shops is called Chinos which is a tie shop. The ties are fairly cheap, about 40-50 pesos a tie, but they have a special where you can buy 12 ties for 150 pesos (11 dollars and 50 cents) which is clearly a missionary favorite. 

Sorry I don't have a whole lot to talk about today, and sorry that my thoughts were all over the place, but I love you and miss you all! Hope you have a great vacation in NC! I am super jealous right now and I wish I could be there with you all! Have fun and be safe!

Love,

Elder Adams