My Replacement (11/24/14)

November 24, 2014

Wow, well this week my replacement came into the offices, he is super awesome and his name is Elder Goodrich, from Lindon, UT. I will be training him for the next few weeks and we are going to have a blast together. After 2 weeks (on the 8th of Dec.) I will be headed out to the field, I am really excited to go back out. This week was a little crazy and we didnt get very much sleep but here are a few things that happened. 

1. I cut my companions hair, Lexie... It wasn't that hard ;) hahaha It actually turned out really well and he is going to cut my hair this week... hahaha It was a funny cool experience and I would consider my self a professional now ;)

2. We had to go to the airport 4 times this week!!! We took 3 people home who wanted to go home and we had to go once to cancel the visa of one of those 3. One of the times we took someone this week they had riots all around the airport and so many people were trying to get in and close down the airport... We saw about a total of 500 police officers with guns, masks, riot shields ext.. It was pretty crazy to see. Another time we had to take someone to the airport at 3 in the morning, but we didn’t go to bed till 2... how stupid. We woke up took him to the airport, came back and slept for one more hour before we had to go to work, I have been super tired and for sure today we are going to be taking some naps!

3. The other night we had a shooting about 30 yards from our apartment! There is an empty apartment behind our apartment separated by a small stream. My companion and I were planning in the kitchen when we saw some flashes outside with some loud noises that sounded like gunshots. We hit the floor but weren't sure if they were gun shots, so we went to the window army crawling and when we peaked our heads out we saw it again with super loud gun shots. We ran upstairs and starting peaking out a different window and saw a few guys with flash lights shinning them down into the stream and every once and again they would fire down there with their pistols, we watched them for a good 20 minutes and then the Police showed up and they scattered everywhere.

Well that is pretty much all that happened this week, just a lot of trips to the airport, a few crazy riots and shootings here in Mexico as well as getting my new companion. Love you all tons and hope you have a great week!!

Love,

Elder Adams

Mexico Conference (11/17/14)

November 17, 2014

This week went by really fast, I feel like it was a little boring but we found a lot of good new investigators, 3 who went to church for the first time this weekend. Speaking of church this weekend all the stakes in Mexico City had a special stake conference with a broadcast transmission from Salt Lake City, Elder Andersen spoke as well as Sister Linda Reves (In super gringo Spanish) and then Elder Johnson and Elder DeHoyos spoke also. The conference was really, really good. The best part that I loved was Elder Johnson's talk about reading the book of Mormon as a family. He started to talk about the story of the serpentine totem and Moses. All the people had to do was look up at the snake and they would be healed and saved, but it was too easy and they didn’t do it and died. He talked about how we all think they are idiots because it would have been so easy, but today we do the exact same thing. The prophets and told us the daily family scripture study is the way to mend wounds and venomous bites that attack the family. It is so easy to read the scriptures as a family everyday but a lot of us die spiritually because we don't complete the simple task. He also said it is ALWAYS possible to read the scriptures as a family everyday, for some it is more difficult but we need to find a time where we would always be able to do it, and said "For someone who has desire, there is a solution. But for someone without a desire, there is always an excuse". I loved the talk so much because it is so true. The biggest difference between the spirituality of a missionary and someone normal is we start our morning with 2 and a half hours of studies. It is so easy to resist temptation when we use the God given remedy, but some of us think it’s to easy and would rather do something else. 

To be honest that is really the only thing that happened this week, today will be lots of fun, we are going to be with the zone leaders all day, going to play 2 on 2 basketball, going out to eat and having a good time. Thanks for all your support, I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Love,

Elder Adams

Gira Misional (11/10/14)

November 10, 2014

This week was a really good week but it flew by really fast and we didn't get a lot of time to work in the field. This week we had our mission tour. An area 70 came to our mission and our President gave him a tour of the mission, we had a few conferences with him, and learned tons! My companion and I were "on call" the whole week you could say. We went to our conference Friday morning, and then Friday night there was a fireside for all the missionaries and their ward councils. Then Saturday us, the APs, and all the zone leaders in the mission had a smaller council with Elder Ortiz which was really, really, really good. We learned a lot of things from Elder Ortiz but a few things that stuck out to me are listed in the following: The first quote was actually from his wife who said, "Obedience isn't an option, its a must" I love that because without obedience this great work doesn't mean anything. Second Elder Ortiz said, "You can’t tell who is a good missionary or a bad missionary until after the mission. Then you can see if they live what they taught" and the last one is: "A spiritual person isn't someone who chokes up or cries during talks. A spiritual person is someone who knows the doctrine and completes with it"

The other crazy thing that happened this past week was that I completed 1 year in the mission!!! What a crazy thought... It was really weird to think that I am over half-way done, it is going by way, way, way too fast. I still can’t believe that I am going home so soon. 

Just a few more things that happened this week. We had an Elder who was brand new here to the mission. Is a recent convert of about 5 years with him and his mom. His mom was a single mom since he was a kid and he is her only kid and he found out this week that his mom passed away. It was a really sad day here in the offices. He went home to see the funeral but is back now working in his area. President said "Well he doesn't have anymore family that he knows of here in this earth so we are going to love him to death and be his new family.

Lastly, to end a good note my companion and I made a "Future Missionary" name tag for Alan the kid of the family that just got baptized. He is going to be a future missionary for sure and in a year that family is going to be sealed in the temple. I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Adams

Gira Misional photos

Miracles (11/3)

Not a whole lot has happened here because it has only been about 3 days but we had a couple cool miracles from this week. We found a lot of really good new investigators this week who are going to progressing really well. The coolest story was that of Sunday morning. We found 3 really good investigators who were omitted to come to church but ended up falling through the cracks. So Sunday morning we went out to work super hard 2 hours before church to find people to bring because we didnt have anyone and we were fasting specifically for that... about an hour before church we met a family who told them we could go to their house. We had a lesson about faith and the importance of going to church. They accepted to come to church with us and stayed for all three hours. They loved church and are so excited to learn more!! It was such a miracle to see that happen and we hope that they will progress really well. 

The other cool thing that happened this week was that José Juan got the priesthood, they are the best family ever!! They even helped us this past week take the family to church in their car and are going to help us teach an investigator that we are teaching right now. As a family they read at least one chapter everyday from the Book of Mormon and have such strong testimonies!! I love them so much and I know that they are going to be an eternal family someday!!!

Love,

Elder Adams

Wow! (10/30/14)

October 30, 2014

Wow, next Sunday I am going to hit my year mark... This would be really crazy to me during anytime but it hit me really hard this week because we just had a generation go home that was filled with a lot of really really good friends. It was so sad to see all of them leave and it made me realize how fast the time flies by. I remember them from my first zone in Mexico and they said they had 15 months in the mission. That sounded like they still had forever left in the mission, but in the blink of an eye I was helping them pack up and get ready to go home and see their families. To be honest it was a really sad week because I had to say goodbye to some of my best friends in the mission, Elder Salazar, Elder Petersen, and Elder Ramirez. They are all such awesome missionaries and I will be sure to put pictures up from my last few nights with them. Besides that nothing has really happened between now and Saturday. We have just been SUPER SUPER SUPER busy because of the changes. We have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off, running to the airport to pick up and drop missionaries off, getting food for all of the meals we had these past few days and to add to it all we haven't slept, AT ALL!!! Well sorry this letter is a little boring but even though it was a crazy hectic few days there really isn't a whole lot to talk about. Love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Love,

Elder Adams

Wow! photos (10/30/14)

1. My best friend in the whole mission, Elder Salazar and our "Barco de la Bandrea" (Flag Ship)

2. Our District, the sisters look tiny next to us... haha

3. Cooking dinner, all of us with President Whiteheads aprons... Emily would like this picture.