Elder Adamson's Letter 12/30/2013

Hope you had a great Christmas!!

Here´s the week.

Tuesday was Nochebuena. (Christmas Eve) We couldn´t proselyte on that day so we just visited some members and what not.  We had a little gift exchange with our district and it was super fun. We all had a super good time and then later headed over to Dominos for the 6.20 buffet.  After we had eaten enough, Elder Johnson and I left to go visit the Obispo (bishop) and he had a bunch of Biscocho (biscuits) and turón ready for us.  We sang some Christmas hymns with their family for a little while and then we were on our way.  Later that night we met at the  capilla (chapel) with the other missionaries and J... brought us a TON of food, and we ate with the Russians again and also played some basketball in our church clothes.  Then right after that, we went to the Gran Vía and took some cool pictures with the lights and all. Then we headed home and crashed in bed because we
were super tired.

CHRISTMAS it rained buckets.  We went everywhere with an umbrella that day, but it was still lots of fun.  We hung out with the other missionaries for a while in the capilla and then went to eat with the A... family.  We had some good food there and they gave us those 2 little Finn and Jake dolls that J... made. 

Super nice of them and Elder Johnson and I are enjoying them for sure.  Right after that we headed over to the locutorio to skype with you guys.  It was super weird to see your faces and everything, but you guys looked pretty good. :)  Right after that we headed home and made some churros and Spanish chocolate with Elder Peters and Baker.  They weren't that great, but pretty good for newbies.

Thursday, the highlight of the day was visiting L... and L... M....  We met at their house and shared a mensajito (message) with them and then we ate some turkey together. We had a great time over there.  They are seriously my best friends here in Murcia.  That was all the exciting news from that day.

Friday, we had an eating cita with J... P... and she invited her cousin C....  Super crazy cita.  C... just kept telling us how beautiful we were and that she wanted to marry us after her husband died.  Also, she wanted us to marry her daughter.  By the way, this lady is like 60 years old.  ANYWAY, after that, all our other citas failed us and we headed over to English class and Noche de Hogar (FHE), and had a fun time.  L... M... came and so did A....  That was a bit of a surprise, but a pleasant one! She had a lot of fun playing games with us.

Saturday, we had some good clean fun playing fútbol.  We didn´t have too much luck teaching wise that day, but we got to go to the baptism of C....  She´s just nine years old and her parents would be getting baptized, but they have to get married first.  She´s great and the baptism went really well.  Later we headed over to visit L... and L... and we taught them about the priesthood and it was a good little lesson.

Sunday, L... M... showed up at the capilla without his dad because he had to stay home for something.  We talked to them both and the baptism is for SURE going down this Saturday.  Now we´re just making arrangements.  I´m so excited for them.  I wish you could just hear them talk about their testimonies and see them in a lesson.  Good guys.  Later that night we visited the M... family and G.... and both of them fed us.     I´ve eaten way too much this week.  But, it´s been a good week nonetheless!!

This Christmas has been super different, but I´ve loved it.  I miss everyone from back home, but              I´ve had a good time here with the mission family as well.  Christmas is always Christmas if we really remember what we are celebrating.  This week I was reading in 3 Nephi 11 when the Savior comes to visit the people in the Americas.  The first thing He does is invites the people to come and feel the marks in His hands and side.  That´s one of my favorite parts of the Book of Mormon because it shows how the Savior asks us to "Come and see" for ourselves. I read a cool quote from Elder Holland that went something like "Christ chose to keep His scars to remind us that we don´t have to keep ours"  I Love that.  Thanks to Him, we can become perfect spiritually and physically.  That was His mission.  The price has already been paid, and all we have to do is accept Him as our Savior and follow Him.

That´s all for this week, Have a great New Year!!  Love you!!

Elder Adamson

Merry Christmas from Spain

Our family had a great visit with Elder Adamson on Christmas morning.  It was 5:00 p.m. in Spain.  It  was so wonderful to talk to him. He loves missionary work and is so glad to be serving.  We feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to share this time together. 

Here's Elder Adamson high over Murcia wearing his new Christmas socks!

Elder Adamson's Letter 12/23/2013

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A BUENAS NOCHES.

Last Monday, we had a super fun noche de hogar at P...´s house.  We shared a fun little message. Ether 12:6 and it was a good success. Later we played some good games and had and all around good time.

Tuesday, we headed over to R...´s house and then went out to find some new investigators, but didn´t really have a lot of luck.  Got some doors slammed in our faces, pero así es a veces... :)  Later we went and visited L... and L... M... and the daughter B... was there as well, and we shared a little message about the Libro de Mormón with them.  After that, J... failed us so we ended up at the S...´s house and they hooked us up with some hot colocao and cookies. :)

Wednesday, Elder Johnson and I went out in the morning to trying and find some folks, but the futures that we had failed us and didn´t want anything, so we knocked a TON of doors there.  During mediodia we went to visit G... and J... and had SALMON.  The first fish I´ve eaten in the field.  It made it down with no problem, but I´m pretty sure I swallowed a fair amount of little bones.  I´m not dead though. Later we went to visit M..., and woke him up from a nap, but he was pretty cool about it.  Then we had to head for Murcia for the English class and the first ever Missionary Noche De Hogar in the capilla.  The Noche de hogar was a good success for a first time and we had a good amount of investigators there.  We shared a little message about the will of God at the beginning and then we played EFY type games the rest of the time and it was tons of fun.  After the Noche de Hogar, we talked with L... M... Most amazing experience on the mission so far.  We just shared a little short message with him and then he just opened up and told us everything about what he had learned.  He told us that he has received his answer that this church is true and that he knows that he needs to be baptized.  We reset a fecha with him for the 5th of January,  Also, he told me that he thinks it was the Holy Ghost that told him to let me and Elder Galarza in when we knocked the door.  WOW. I was speechless.  I´ve never taught someone prepared like this until now.

Thursday, we headed over to Palmar and visited L... and L... M... again.  We shared a little tiny message and then gave them the baptismal questions without them knowing it.  We gave them the whole interview and they passed it with flying colors.  We did it mostly to help them feel more ready because L... padre feels like he doesn´t know enough yet, but we´ve taught him everything.  Also, his super Catholic wife is not helping, but he´ll be baptized.  We set the fecha again with L... as well.  Super cool day.

Friday, we went to a pueblo that we have called La Alberca.  I´ve only been there like 3 times total.  We went to try and find some new investigators.  We visited a ton of futures and antiguos but didn´t really get any luck until S....    She´s an antiguo from a few months ago that looks like she just lost contacts.  She told us we can come back next week and she´ll gladly recieve us.  Later we were looking for some menos activos and we happened to pass J... P... (member) and she took us to her house to meet 2 Ecuadorians that live below her and we got a couple new investigators there. :)  Turned out pretty well for the risk we took on going to La Alberca.

Saturday was the baptism of J...--an investigator of the other Elders who they found like 2 weeks ago.  He already wants to serve a mission and is a total maquina.  L... and L... M..., as well as N..., came to see it and they loved it. (YESSSSS). Later we had our Cena de Navidad (Christmas Dinner) and it was a good time.  We sat with L... and L... M... and had a fun time.  I showed them the picture book of the family and we also chatted with these two Russians  that I´m pretty sure live on the street.  They were cool.  Anyway, it was a good night.

Sunday, L... and L... M... both showed up at the capilla again and enjoyed the meetings.  They´re doing really well.  After church, we had some leftover chicken from the cena (dinner) and then went out to work.  Our main plans failed us, but we met a new Nigerian named T... and taught him a short lesson about the Book of Mormon.  Then we visited M... and later J... and G..., and I gave J... a blessing of health because he pinched a nerve or something in his side.  It was a really cool experience.

This week the mission had a goal to find 800 new investigators which is beyond high, and we were able to find 847!  Really cool.  Elder Johnson and I were only able to contribute about 5 to that, but we got the goal!

Christmas is here and I can hardly believe it.  Jesus came in the the world in the most humbly manner, and yet he is the Savior of us all.  He is our Salvation and if we follow his example and be humble, and submit our will´s to the Lord´s He will lead us straight to the kingdom that awaits us.  Humility is the key.  

Super good week.

SEE YOU IN 2 DAYS. :)

Love

 Elder Adamson

Elder Adamson's Letter 12/16/2013

CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE.  Hope you´re enjoying the snowy weather there.  I miss the snow a lot.  It just feels like it´s Fall here right now.  Anyway, here´s how the week went.

Last Monday was good.  After a Pday full of playing futbol with the missionaries, we had pretty much all plans fail on us in El Progreso, but we got 2 surprise lessons in.  We passed by P...´s house who we haven´t seen in over a month and she happened to be there, so we dropped in a reviewed the restoration with her.  She seemed like she wanted to have us start coming again, but I´m not really sure.  They failed us on the return cita we set.  It´s hard to tell sometimes if people aren´t interested or just super forgetful.  Then we were able to find a Nigerian man.  His name is M... and we got in his piso and he just talked to us about how much he liked rap and stuff.  He had a pretty dirty mouth and it´s been a while since I´ve heard the English swear words... ha ha.  But, we shared a good lesson with him about the Restoration as well and we told him that we´ll come back to find him.  His girlfriend gave Elder Johnson some besitos (kisses) on the cheeks like they do to greet people here, but I successfully avoided them with a stiff handshake.  Sometimes they sneak up on you, and               it´s pretty rare to be a "never been beso´d missionary", but I still am. Yesssssssssssssss.

Tuesday, we visited R... and also L... M... and they are doing awesome.  We taught them the law of Chastity and M... came with us.  He´s a total stud and I wish you could meet him.  Anyway, They´re doing awesome.  Later we went to go visit J... because we passed J... and he told us he was home, so we went there and reviewed the Plan of Salvation with these little drawings that I made like they do in primary.  

Wednesday, we went to visit N... and her friend L... again to help them with their English homework and it was a good little cita.  Afterward we shared a little message about the Book of Mormon and had to RUN to catch the bus and then SPRINT to the capilla to make it there in time to teach the English class.  L... and L... M... came and after the class we got a lesson in with them about Alma 7, the atonement and how it applies to baptism.  They liked it a lot, but told us they´re still a little hesitant to be baptized, but I´m sure they will be.  It might not be on the 21st or while I´m even here, but        they´ll get baptized.  Love those dudes.

Thursday, we had our weekly planning complete with Kebab and then visited L... and L... M... later that night.  We taught them about the 10 commandments and they were 100% in agreement.  When we teach them something and ask them to commit to it, they always express their desires to do what God wants for them.  They are for sure the most prepared people I´ve taught so far.

Friday the 13th turned out to be not too bad.  We talked to P... about our goal as a mission to find 800 new investigators tomorrow and we´re hoping they´ll be able to help us complete it.  Later we visited G... and a friend that was there with her and just shared a short message with them.  Also, that morning we went to visit with J... C....  We´re trying to help him back to activity and he´s improving little by little.

Saturday, we had a Cosecha (harvest) here in Murcia.  All the missionaries from the Cartagena zone came with  few members to contact in the street for a few hours.  We got quite a few futures, but about 90% of them were in the Hermana´s area, so it didn´t help us out too much, but it was a good time.  I went with Elder Lucero and actually saw M... begging on the street.  That was a little weird, because in his house, he definitely doesn´t look that poor, pero bueno... who knows.  We also taught L... and L... M... tithing and they were totally de acuerdo again. Great guys, and they´re always eager to listen to us and have us come over.

Sunday was the primary program, and it was super funny as always.  The classic 2 or 3 kids singing their guts out and the rest looking around and mouthing the words.  Super funny, but it was really good too.  L... M... came again for Church, but his dad couldn´t because they lost the keys to the house so he had to stay there or something, which means they can´t be baptized on the 21st, but that´s alright.  After Church, L... M... pulled us aside and told us that he didn´t think he´d be ready by the 21st, but that he wanted to see a baptism first.  The other Elders have a baptism coming soon so we invited him to that.  We´ve been pushing pretty hard to get them ready for the 21st, but they don´t feel ready, so we´re going to have to wait a bit.  I just hope I get to see it.  They´ll be such strong members.  Later we went and ate with the M... and then went and watched the Christmas Devotional at the capilla.  It was super good and L... M... showed up to that as well.  He´s such a maquina.

In the Christmas Devotional, I really loved Elder Anderson´s talk about the Savior.  I love Christmas so much and even though it´s not quite the same without snow and a tree in the house, I still have the most important part with me.  The Savior is everything.  We celebrate His birth every year to remind us of him.  He sacrificed everything for us and died for us, but more importantly, He lives for us.  

Jesus´s life did not end on the cross, but He will live on forever in His glory, and thanks to His atonement, we can do the same.  If we follow his steps,   they´ll take us straight to Exaltation. "I Stand All Amazed" comes to mind when I think of Him and His love for us.  He is someone to be celebrated all year round!

• Are you staying warm outside and inside?
• Yeah, I´m fine now.  The change was just so fast that it caught us surprised.
  

• How festive is Christmas in Spain?  Is it as big a deal in Spain as it is here?

• Honestly, it´s not THAT big here.  It´s for sure still celebrated, but not so much as in the States.  They have like 2034980293458 other holidays for the Virgins that kind of take precedent.  They still celebrate it a lot though.

That´s all for this week.  Hope everything is going well and enjoy the Christmas spirit and the gingerbread cookies and stuff.  Jess and Mom better make and eat some on my behalf.

LOVE YOU!!!

Elder Adamson

Elder Adamson's Letter 12/9/2013

 Elder Johnson and Elder Adamson

Sorry I´m writing late today.  It´s a Festivo day here and pretty much everything closes down here so we had to find a different place to come write.

This Monday, I went and bought a sweater so I wouldn´t die of frost bite (kidding).  Later that night we went over to P...´s place and did another Noche do Hogar with them.  It was tons of fun and we got some inactive family members to come as well as their children who haven´t been baptized yet, like N... and P....  Lots of fun with them though.  We played some games and had a merry old time.

Tuesday, we headed over to El Palmar and ate with the Patriarch´s family.  His daughter made us some Korean food, which I sent you a picture of.  It was super good and we also had some really good pasta.  She is a master chef basically.  We visited R... and the Familia S... after that and shared quick messages with them.  After that our other plans fell through so we went to knock a few doors and found a Moroccan man named A... who was pretty cool.  We taught him a little bit about the Book of Mormon and he seemed to like it and told us we could come back to talk with him.  We also got to see J... that night, but he   didn´t seem too stoked that we came.  After, we went and gave a Lesson 3 to L... and L... M... and talked about how they can prepare for their fecha baptismal on the 21st.  They´re awesome and are FULL of real intent.  Later we passed by J... and A... and shared a mensajito (message) with them.

Wednesday, we ate with A... again and M... A... also came (potential investigator)  We talked to them about the Book of Mormon and they seemed to enjoy the message.  Later we went over to P...'s house to do a little service and we taught N... and her friend some English.  They´re learning in school so we helped them with their homework.  Later that night, we went to teach English class at the capilla but not a SINGLE soul was there.  Super weird, because we´ve always had at least 1 or 2 people there and some times more than 10.  Then we had a little correlation meeting with the district to find out which of the members on the list are menos activos or actives, which was time well spent.  We had 7 set citas for this day, but all fell through except for 2. Bad days happen all the time, but it´s nothing out of the ordinary. :)

Thursday, we had an eating cita with J... J... and G....  She made some really good Ecuadorian dealio and some cake she made.  We didn´t have too much time to talk to J... because he had to go to work, but we talked to him also about how he can progress toward his fecha.  Later we had a little miracle and were able to get in a piso of 2 menos activos named J... and P... that doesn´t have a timbre (bell) so we´ve never been able to get in, but the door was open this time, so we went in and got both of the information.  After that we had our interviews with President Deere and it was a good time.  We talked about maybe moving out to El Palmar since the majority of our work is there and we wouldn´t have to travel so much to get there, (takes like 30 minutes on a bus to get there).  We´re thinking about it...  More to come.

Friday, we had some Specialized Training from President and we talked about the purpose of the Book of Mormon. We had a good time there and learned some good ways to present the Book of Mormon and all.  Later we went to El Palmar, and we were able to sneak a lesson with J... in again.  We read the first part of Enos with him and talked about it because he was kind of antsy to get out with his friends.  Later, we went to visit L... and L... M... again and talked about how reading, praying and coming to church are going to help them feel ready to be baptized.  They´re both super sincere and want to do the will of God, but they have this idea that they can´t be baptized until they have enough "conocimiento" or knowledge.  We´re working hard to help them learn that it´s just the first step and that they can be ready for the 21st.  

Saturday, we had the most awesome day of soccer ever.  L... and L... M... both showed up to play and had a great time.  They were laughing a lot and got to know a ton of members.  I also scored like 230349 goals that day.  Being in Spain is making me better at soccer. After soccer, we shared a message with them and showed them the capilla and they liked it a lot.  We told them about following the prophet and how we are blessed as we keep the commandments.  They took it very well and have testimonies that Joseph Smith was a prophet.  :) :)  We also visited them later that night with M... and taught the Word of Wisdom.  At first L... was a little iffy about the coffee and tea part, but then he just accepted it and said that if God says we shouldn´t do something, then we shouldn´t do it.  What a guy!  Super good day.

Sunday, we went to church and GUESS WHO CAME??  L... and L... M... showed up and they told us that they really liked it and that it was really beautiful.  Theýre on their way!  I was super happy with the members because they all welcomed them and really took them in.  Later that night we had a cita with J... J... and G... because he wasn´t there at church.  When we got there, J... didn´t want to come out and listen.  G... was super sad, but there´s not anything that we can do.  He´s got his agency, but I wish he would just do his part and listen to us.  G... just wants to be married in the Temple, but until J... accepts the gospel and stops being lazy, it can´t happen.  I wish I could do something more for them, but it´s up to him, really :/

We´ve seen lots of Miracles this week.  The mission is awesome now.  I´m done training and I really feel like I´m settling into it now.  I know what I´m doing a lot more now and I´m LOVING it.  Some people might think that miracles have ceased or that they never existed.  To who ever says that, I´d like to give them a Book of Mormon and some good quality time to read it.  The Book of Mormon itself is a miracle to me. It´s part of God´s "Marvelous Work" and it´s the way for us to know if all this is true.  Those who read it and pray about it will come to know that Christ is our Savior, that Joseph Smith was called as a prophet of God to restore His church, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the kingdom of God on this earth.  I love to testify of that, and I do it just about every day here.

 That´s all for this week.  Elder Johnson and I are working super well together and we´ve had a lot of success.  We´re working hard and I´m excited to report the miracles of next week to you. 

Have a great week!  Love you all!

Elder Adamson

Missionaries come in all sizes!!

This threesome always gets a few laughs when they go out together.

Elder Adamson's Letter 12/2/2013

Hey Er´ebody.  This has been a really great first week of the Transfer and I´m excited to report on it.

Monday, We had a noche de hogar (FHE) with P...´s familiy and we had a lot of fun there.  I made some little drawings like you do in primary to help the younger kids understand.  We also ate some SUPER garlicky sauce.  It tasted really good, but I woke up the next day tasting it again, and yes I did brush my teeth the night before.  Then we went and visited the A... family so that Elder Galarza could say good bye to them.  That´s about all for that day.

Tuesday, was a little crazy.  Elder Clark was with us again because Elder Peters was in Malaga again.  We went to all our set citas and then visited the Bishop so they could say goodbye to him.  He brought out tons of Christmas time snacks and we had a little feast.  That night we had to come back to the piso early so Elder Galarza could pack everything up.  That night we had 6 Elders sleeping in our freezin cold piso so they could get to the bus station on time in the morning.  It was a wreck, but it´s all cleaned up again.

Wednesday was even more crazy.  I went to the bus station back and forth to pick up and drop off missionaries that were transferring.  That´s what you get for living next to the bus station during transfer week.  I walked ALL OVER Murcia that day.  I´m pretty sure more than I´ve ever walked in a day of working.  Super exhausting, but at last, my new comp arrived!!  Elder Johnson is a stud and he´s been out on his mission for about a year now.  He´s half Korean and he´s from Brigham City.  He speaks Spanish just about perfectly and he is a really hard worker.  I´m really pumped for this transfer.  He also brought a guitar with him from Granada.  A GUITAR.  He´s WAY better than me, but now we´ve got one in the piso we can play when we have free time.  He´s teaching me a sweet version of I Feel My Saviors love right now.  Wooo hooooo.  I don't have a picture of him yet, but I´ll take one this week when we´re looking good.  Later that night we went to English class and then went back to the piso to get settled in.

Thursday, We had our weekly planning in the morning and all went well.  Not much to report there...ja ja.  During Medio dia, all the Murcia Elders got together at the capilla (chapel) and we got Kebab for Thanksgiving.  No Turkey for us, but it was a merry little celebration. Later that day we went out to work and everyone failed us so we went to go meet some member families for Elder Johnson.  Pretty normal day, but a little disappointing  It´s all good though.

Friday, we had another pretty off day, but it ended well.  We had a good district meeting with the new folks here.  Elder Peters is training a new Elder named Elder Baker from Chicago.  It rocks not being the youngest anymore..ha ha.  I feel experienced now... at least a little bit.  Later that night we passed by a Nigerian antiguo, and set a cita (appointment) with her, which is pretty hard, because she is super flojo.  BUT Elder Johnson has worked with a lot of Africans, so he´s got some experience and knows how to relate to them.  That was a little miracle.  Later that night, we were walking to our other pueblo and we happened to see N... outside, and I asked if we could go up with her and see her mom, and her mom was home this time.  We´ve been trying to find her for a while.  Her mom is named P... and she´s menos activo (less active) and she isn´t baptized.  There is a lot for potential with that family and we´re going to work with them this week to see what we can do.  P... has even told us that she has desires to return as well, so that´s awesome.  I´m excited for them.

Saturday was another really good day.  We visited J..., R..., and A... and had really good citas with all of them.  The best cita of the day was with L... M... and it was really good.  We finally got to teach him the restoration and we set a fecha (date) with him for the 21st of Dec.  The same as his Dad´s.  They were a little uncertain about it, but we told them a ton of times we´ll be there to support them in their progression.  Good, good guys, though.  I wish you could meet them.  We also got HEATING today.  We called our dueño (landlord) and he brought us over two radiators and a microwave.  Christmas came early this year.  He also brought me 20 euros that he owed me which was an added bonus. :)  Elder Johnson is the master of Nesquik hot chocolate and we´ve had it like every day this week. Sooo good.  Bishop would be proud.

Sunday, we had a good day at church, and Elder Johnson met all the members and all.  It was a good day.  Then afterwards, we set some eating citas with people.  One thing I´ve surprised myself with on the mission is how bold I´ve been.  I just straight up ask people to feed us now.  And also to be baptized, more importantly. :)  Seriously though, that part of me has changed a lot.  Later that night we went and visited J... and had a really good cita with him.  We taught him the Gospel of Jesus Christ and invited him to be baptized and he accepted a fecha for the 21st of December.  That is another little miracle.  We´ve been moving pretty slow with him and now he´s getting more and more comfortable with us.  G... looked super happy when we set the fecha, and a few tears were shed.  What a great job I have.  "Shall we not go on in so great a cause?"

This week I just want to talk about how much I love this mission.  It´s such a blessing to be here sharing the most valuable thing on earth.  I love it so much.  The Lord is working miracles and I´m so glad that I´ve been chosen to be an instrument in the gathering of his children.  There´s not a better work in all this world.  It´s hard at times, but I´ve really grown to love it.  The people, the work, the miracles, my comps and everything else.  Thanks, family, for the support you give me, and for helping me to get out here to Spain.  I wouldn´t chose to be anywhere else but here.  THANK YOU.

That´s all this week.  Love you all so so so so so much.  Have a great week.

Elder Adamson