Elder Adamson's Letter 4/28/2014

Hello everyone!  Here´s the week.

Last Monday for Pday, we had another ping pong tournament in our piso and went out to a pizza buffet which was pretty mediocre, but we all had a good time together.  Later that night, we went to go visit S... and one of his Spanish friends happened to be over and she had some good questions to ask us and stayed to listen to the lesson and we got a new investigators there that came out of nowhere.

Tuesday, we had our district meeting and I gave a little lesson on the role of the Spirit in conversion.  I used the little pipe and water example dad always uses when he talks about the priesthood and applied it to the Spirit.  Later, we went on Intercambios (exchanges), and Elder Chumbipuma came with me.  We went to go see A.., M..., and P..., stopped by the P...family´s house and that´s about it.  We didn´t have too much luck last night, but it was fun to be with a native Elder again for the day.

Wednesday morning, we switched back companions so I had to go to Alacalá to pick up Elder Enfield.  In Alcalá we accidentally took a bus to Sevilla, but we found our way home after.  When we got home we went to eat at J... and A...´s house and then taught some English to L....  Later that night we went to the Noche de hogar (Home Evening) and A... taught the lesson.  He did super good and he was really proud of himself.

Thursday, we had our weekly planning, and Elder Webb came to stay with us for a few hours while he waited for his train.  When we went out with him, we had very few plans and we ran right through them in about an hour so we started to knock doors.  By the end of the time he was here, we had found 4 new investigators, and contacted a menos activo that hasn´t had contact with the church for about 20 years.  We had a day of miracles for sure.  

Friday, the Zone Leaders came over to do intercambios with us, and again we had very little work, even less with 2 companionships working the same area, but we were able to find a lot of good potential investigators the  rest of the week.  I went with Elder Ordoñez and Elder Enfield went with Elder Johnson.

Saturday, we harvested the seeds we planted with our potential investigators from the day before.  Elder Enfield and I found a new investigator named J... from Ecuador who is a really nice guy.  He´s about 22 and seems to be pretty interested.  Right after we finished talking to him, we went across the hall of the building and knocked the door of another potential investigator and he let us in as well.  His name is D..., also from Ecuador and is about 17 years old and seems to be a really good kid.  Those were 2 great miracles.  Finding through knocking doors isn´t usually that promising, but the Lord blessed us this time.  Later we went to see A... and ended the night.

Sunday, we walked to church with A... and F..., and had a great meeting.  Elder Enfield and I had to teach the gospel principles class on prophets and it went pretty well.  In the afternoon, A... came out with us to look for people but we had no luck, so we ended up seeing the V... family and A... invited us to his house for dinner.

This has been one of the hardest weeks of my mission, but at the same time, we´ve seen lots of miracles. The Lord has blessed us a lot this week. We were able to find 7 new investigators this week that all seem to be very good. We can only thank the Lord for His help this week because it seems like they just came all the sudden, people that we hadn´t been able to contact for a very long time let us in, and future investigators let us in as well. We are very grateful for all the miracles we´ve seen this week, and hope to see even more in this week of consecration!  We belong to a God who gives and takes away and he is aware of all of us.  2 Nephi 10:22-24

¡'Os quiero y hasta la proxima! (I love you and until next time!)

Elder Adamson

Elder Adamson's Letter 4/21/2014

This has been a bit of a Crazy week in Dos Hermanas.  It was  Semana Santa so all the Catholics (and non-Catholic) were out in the streets watching the processions and not in their houses.  So it´s been a pretty slow week here.

Last Monday, we went to Plaza de España again so Elder Enfield could see it.  It was really beautiful this week and all spruced up for Semana Santa.  When we got there, there was a procession passing right by there so we went and watched a little bit of it.  I´ll send pictures.

 

  We also went to a little sandwich shop called Montaditos and had some pretty good 50 cent sandwiches.  Later that night, J… and A… invited us over for dinner so we went over there and shared a little message with them as well.

Tuesday we had a special training in Sevilla with President Deere and we talked about a new way to ask for referrals and it was super cool.  He did a live practice with the P... family for the training and they gave him like 40 names of Menos activos, part member families, and people with connections to the church.  Super cool.  We´ve been using that a lot this week.  Later that night, we had just about nothing, except we were able to go visit H… and N… for a little bit, but other than that, we had no luck.

Wednesday, we went over to the V… family´s house to help L… and C… paint their room.  It was kind of a disaster, but it was lots of fun and we painted a couple walls.  After we finished, C… painted himself blue. I have pictures of that too.  Later that night we went to visit J... and A..., the P... family to check up on a few of the referrals, M... (father of A..., M..., and P...), and then ended the night off with the Noche de hogar (Home Evening) in the capilla (chapel).  Pretty good day.

Thursday, we had our weekly planning in the morning and in the afternoon we went over to see X... and L..., but were surprised to see a Brazilian lady there that we have been trying to contact FOREVER with them as well.  We shared a short message with them and she became a new investigator.  X... has warned us about her a little before.  But she wants us to come over and teach her so we´ll give it a shot.  Then we stopped by N... and H..'s house and they gave us some SUPER good Brazilian food.

Friday, we had a pretty normal day.  We couldn´t find anybody at home so we ended up at J... and A...´s house for a bit and and visited L... later that day.  Not much else to report about that day.

Saturday, we dropped by H... and N...´s house to give H... a white shirt for church and then stopped by X...´s house so we could actually share a good message this time.  The last time we were there, M... B... let us talk for like 3 minutes and that´s it.  Later, during mediodia, (noon) we went to Utrera to eat with the the C... family for an Easter dinner.  We had lots of fun there and they had ALL American food.  We were all in heaven.  Later that night we went out to try to find some former investigators, but didn´t have any luck because everyone was out watching the processions.

Sunday, after church, N... and R... invited us over and took us to a little get together at their friends house in Morón.  It was a lot of military people there that do the same things as N….  While we were there we shared a short little Easter message with everyone and it was a really fun time.  We got to talk to a bunch of Americans who weren´t missionaries and share a little bit of the gospel with them as well.  Great night.  N... and R... also hooked us up with a TON of American food they got from the base.  We owe them big time.

This week, I´ve been studying a lot about the resurrection and this scripture really stuck out to me.  It´s found in Mosiah 16.

6 And now if Christ had not come into the world, speaking of things to come as though they had already come, there could have been no redemption.

 7 And if Christ had not risen from the dead, or have broken the bands of death that the grave should have no victory, and that death should have no lasting, there could have been no resurrection.

 8 But there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ.

 9 He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened; yea, and also a life which is endless, that there can be no more death.

Thanks to Christ, the grave has no victory and death has no sting.  I remember when we were on our Origination trip last summer, in the Winter Quarters visitors center, there is a window that looks out on the Temple and the cemetery.  Right above the window it says "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"  Thanks to Christ and this restored gospel, death is not the end.  I testify that this is the truth and that Christ lives for us!

Hope everything is going well back at home!  Love you guys!

Con amor, (With love)  

Elder Adamson

Elder Adamson's Letter 4/14/2014

Hello everyone!

This week has been a little bit crazy because the Semana Santa just started here and it´s HUGE in Sevilla.  I´ll attach some pictures I took walking between a few citas.  This hasn´t been the best week.  Most of the people we are teaching right now are out of town for Semana Santa and we found out that our one progressing investigator moved away this week.  The work has been pretty slow this week, but I´m sure it will pick up again a little after Semana Santa is over.

This week we spent a lot of time with H... and N... and they got some bad news this week.  They both had birthdays this week so we took them some homemade brownies and I shared some of my Easter candies you sent to me with them. They told us that they got news that the job H... came to Spain for wasn´t going to work out in the end, which was a huge blow to them, because they made a lot of sacrifices to come here for the job.  At first they told them that they had to come to Spain first to talk about the job, but when they got here they found out that they had to have some sort of contract to work there and that he had to have done it while he was still in Brazil. They sold all their things back at home and didn´t have plans to go back and live in Brazil.  Now H... is just looking for other jobs that could work out for him, because the other company won´t work out. We´ve visited them a lot this week, and talked a little about that, but they are still full of faith. They still recognize that it was the Lords hand that brought them into the right church, and that´s helping them a lot right now.  We finally got to see them get confirmed members of the church and we got to hear their sweet testimonies again in sacrament meeting.  Great people.  H... and N... also fed us a ton of snacks all the times we visited them this week.  They don´t like the cured ham they have here, so we ate a lot of that because M... A... gave them some.  I´ve eaten about 2 billion green olives this week too since I bought a huge jar full of them.

We also did a service project in Utrera for R... picking up a bunch of fire wood from the olive trees and throwing it into the back of a trailer behind a tractor. We were there the whole morning tossing sticks with an old spanish man.  It was lot of fun though and we were there with Elder Brewer and Datwyler and J... made us lunch and breakfast.  We came home super tired though.  The picture of me on the tractor is from that day.

This week we also had a Zone meeting in Sevilla and our Zone leaders are Elders Johnson and Ordoñez now.  Two of my great friends from Murcia and here in Sevilla with me again.  We had a good zone meeting and afterward, the Wilsons made us all root beer floats because they bought a bunch from the base.

How did your first week go with your new companion? 

         Great.  Elder Enfield is a maquina.  We forgot to take pictures together, so I´ll send one next week.

Dad was hoping the other night when we had root beer floats that you got to have one as well with that root beer.  Did they take your suggestion and try it?  

           I´m not sure, I´ll have to ask.  I don´t know if they like it enough to try it.  ha ha

How did the confirmation go for H.. and N...?  

          Great, and smoothly.  No problems.  Just the way we like ´em. :)

Do you have any plans for Easter?

            yes, we´re going to eat dinner with the C... family this week. (Americans that work on the base)

That´s pretty much all the exciting things that have gone on this week.  Hope your week is good back at home.  Love you!

Elder Adamson

Tender Mercy

A sweet message on my phone this morning along with these pictures from the Johnsons.

Mothers always love pictures!!!

Elder Adamson's Letter 4/7/2014

Hello Family!

This has been a great conference weekend and a great time in the mission.  This week I had to say goodbye to Elder Woodford which was super hard because he was a great companion and a great friend.  But now he´s back in Wyoming with his family and I´m sure he´s loving it.  My new companion, Elder Enfield, arrived about 2 hours after Elder Woodford left.  He´s 6´4" and he´s from California.  He´s been in the mission for about 5 months now and started his mission in Puertollano, Castilla la Mancha.           He´s still 18 and we´re pretty sure he´s the youngest missionary in the mission but it doesn´t show at all.  He´s super fun, loves music and we get along great.  He´s a hard worker and I´m super excited to get working with him. 

This week was a bit more calm because we weren´t running around to get a baptism ready.  I took Elder Enfield around to meet a lot of the members and he´s making some super good first impressions.  We went to go see Helton and Natalia a few times this week and had a blast with them.  Neither of us like seafood, and N... brought out this tiny little fried fish called boquerones.  We both just kind of looked at each other and went for it and they weren´t too bad unless you thought about the fact that you were eating an ENTIRE fish.  It´s a super common tapa here in Spain.  A few days later we brought them some root beer that a member gave us from the base and they didn´t like it. ha ha B... said it tasted like toothpaste.  I told them to try it with a little vanilla ice cream and that that was one of my dad´s favorite things.

This weekend we got to go to Sevilla to watch General Conference and it was soo good.  I got a lot of answers to questions I had especially about my role as a missionary. All the missionaries watched it together in English and we brought a ton of snacks to share.  We got to see all the sessions but one. and I think it was Sunday afternoon that we didn´t catch.  So I´m going to have to check those ones out later.  Conference is super fun as a missionary.  My favorite talks were from Elder Hallstrom and Elder Bednar. I forgot my notes in the piso, but something I really liked was when Elder Bednar told us that we should yoke ourselves with Christ, and that he will be pulling with us and for us.  I also loved how he talked about how the Lord doesn´t necessarily take away our trials, but he makes us stronger in helping us to withstand our trials with our faith in Christ.  That´s the truth.  If Heavenly Father just took away all the trials we had when we asked Him to, how would we ever progress?  Faith doesn´t grow unless you exercise it and ask for help to overcome trials.  Maybe He won´t take away our load, but       he´ll help us to bear it, which in the end is the better option.

What was the reason that H... and N... came to Spain from Brazil?  

         They came for work, because H... had been offered a job here.  They´re working that out right now.

Are they related to M... A... or did they know him before they arrived in Spain?

         No, there´s no relation, but we brought M... A... to a few of the lessons because he lived in Brazil when he was a young man and he speaks Portuguese.  He´s a machine and he´s already taking care of H...and N...

Were they able to go to General Conference with you?     

         Yes, they watched it with M... A....  I haven´t talked to them about it yet.  

That´s all for this week!  Hasta la próxima y cuídense.  (Until next time, take care.)

Con Amor,  (With Love,)

Elder Adamson

Elder Adamson's P-day