Elder Adamson's Letter 11/24/2014

Hello Everyone!  This has been an amazing week and we got to hear from Elder Patrick Kearon of the Seventy.  Here´s what we did this week.

On Monday, we had a great visit with María and Lucas and their kids.  We taught the Plan of Salvation and we used some little pictures that I made in Murcia to do it and the kids just soaked it up.  By the end of the lesson, Celia had taken mental notes and she gave a summary of everything that we had talked about.  Those kids are really bright and they need to start going to church more often.  We´re not really sure why their parents stopped going, but we´re going to see what we can do to help that family out.

We´ve been about to teach David and Angela about 3 times this week and they´re doing well and progressing, but at a slower pace.  Angela has come a long way but she´s been Catholic for all 77 years of her life so it´s a little hard for her to assimilate all the things we´re teaching her, but she´s doing well.  I wish you could be in a lesson with her because she makes some of the funniest comments I have ever heard.  Her baptism is programmed for this Sunday, but we´re not sure if she´s going to make it, so we might have to move the date again, but she came to church again this week and she´s doing well with not drinking coffee.

On Wednesday, we met with Lolo and had a really good lesson 1 with him.  He read the Book of Mormon and prayed, but we lost contact with him this week and he didn´t show up to church, so we´re going to see if we can catch up with him this week.  Later in the afternoon we met with Guillermo and 

he´s doing super well.  He´s reading the scriptures and he told us he´d come to church with us this next week so we´re pretty excited about that.  He´s made a huge change according to the members.  After that lesson we grabbed our bags and headed for Dos Hermanas to stay the night there.  It was super weird to stay in my old apartment again.  I got to see Joni and Alex and chatted with them for a few minutes before heading to the piso, and it was great to see them again.  

The next morning, we got up early and left for Málaga to hear from Elder Kearon.  We all got to shake his hand and we soaked up every minute of listening to him, his wife, and the Deeres.  He talked a lot about how as missionaries we are asked to stretch a lot, among tons of other things.  The thing that I think stuck with me most was when he mention how we have to be like Peter and jump out of the boat and DECIDE to act, and we move forward with our faith in Christ, and if we happen to waiver, the Savior of the world is there to take us by the hand and lift us up.  Sometimes the hardest thing to do is just jumping out of the boat, but it´s a step of faith that we have to take.  There was a lot more that we talked about, but those were the things that came to me strongest.  Elder Kearon bore a very powerful testimony of the 12 apostles and of the Restoration and the Spirit was very strong in the conference we had.

This week we have the goal as a mission to take 250 investigators to church this week and Elder Lelegren and I have set the goal to bring 4 investigators to church with us.  It´s gonna be a stretch, but we´re gonna go for it!

There´s no snow or anything here in San Fernando, but it´s been pretty rainy lately.  For me it´s still short sleeve weather when it´s not super windy, but people here are bundling up like Eskimos.

I´m not sure if we´re going to be eating a typical thanksgiving dinner here, but if we don´t Elder Lelegren and I will do something special. :)

That´s all for this week.  Thanks for sending another package!  

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EVERYONE!

Love,

Elder Adamson

I attached some pics of the piso just in case you want to see what it looks like.

Elder Adamson's Letter 11/17/2014

Hello Everyone!

Things are going really well here in San Fernando.  Things have picked up a lot and we found another 6 new investigators this week.  We´re happy and working hard and REALLY excited for this next week.  Elder Kearon of the first Quorum of the Seventy is coming to the mission this week so we´re all pretty pumped about that.  Here´s what we did this week:

On Monday, we were able to visit Lucas and María who are less active members and their three kids who are all nonmembers.   We had a good little lesson with them and the kids were super happy to see us there. 

They´ve been going to church with their grandma in Cádiz and they love it, so we´re going to see what we can do to help this family out.  We don´t know too much about them but the parents have been inactive for about 14 years.  There is a lot of good potential there, though.

We´ve had some more good visits with David and Angela this week too.  They both came to church this week and they´re both progressing really well.  We changed Angela´s date to the 30th of November because          we´ve still got a few things left to teach that we can´t fit in this week.  Angela has stopped drinking coffee and she´s keeping all of her commitments so things are looking good.  We reviewed the restoration with her this week a couple times so she would really understand it and I think she´s got it now.  She just needs to keep praying about it.

We also found a new investigator this week named Lolo who was friends with the Missionaries in England.  He speaks English really well, but I think it will be good for him to hear the gospel in his own language.  So far he seems to be really receptive.  He´s about 20 years old.  We also found 2 other investigators this week that were referrals from Chari named Josefina and Manuel.  They´re from Barcelona and they´re both pretty agnostic in their own ways but really nice people, and we´re hoping they´ll give it a shot.

I got to do another Baptismal interview in Cádiz this week.  That ward is on fire right now.  The man´s name is Luis and I got to hear his new and growing testimony.  Those interviews will always be some of the most special experiences of my mission.  He got baptized this weekend and it was a great service.

This morning I studied Alma 36 and 2 parts of the chapter really stuck out to me.  First, when Alma says that "the very thought of coming into the presence of my God did rack my soul with inexpressible horror" before his repentance but immediately after he repents he says "Yea, methought I saw, even as our father Lehi saw, God sitting upon his throne, surrounded with numberless concourses of angels, in the attitude of singing and praising their God; yea, and my soul did long to be there."  That is how we should feel.  We must always long to be with God and NEVER EVER hide from Him.

We´ve got a big week ahead of us and we´re very excited to hear from Elder Kearon.  

Love you all and I hope you´re doing great!

Elder Adamson

Elder Adamson's Letter 11/10/2014

Hello everyone!  Here´s the week!

San Fernando is cooling off quite a bit this week.  The temperature´s haven´t dropped too much, but there is a pretty cold humid wind here.  We´re happy though. Sweater weather is definitely coming though.

This week we´ve been dropped by a few investigators but things are going really well with David and Ángela, this week we taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and also about the Word of Wisdom.   Both of them are coffee drinkers and it´s going to be pretty hard for David to stop according to him, but he´s lowered the amount he´s drinking every day.  This week when we were in a lesson, Elder Richardson and Thia were with me because our companions had to go to Fuengirola.  While Ángela was talking with Elder Richardson, he asked her about her baptismal date and she said something like "Of course I´m going to get baptized!  I´m not going to make these guys come all the way over here for nothing!" ha ha  She´s progressing really well, and keeping commitments.  She told us last time that she wouldn´t drink another coffee until the next time we came which is this Wednesday, so we´re excited to see how things have gone.

We had a really great Zone Meeting this week in Cádiz on Friday.  Elder Rasmussen and Elder Smith asked me to sing "Savior Redeemer of my Soul".  It´s been quite a while since I´ve done something like that and I got a little shakey while I was singing, but I loved it.  That will always be one of my favorite songs.  The zone leaders talked to us about obedience and the Sister training leaders talked to us about helping our investigators come to church.  Afterwards, Elder Rasmussen came with me to San Fernando for an intercambio and we had tons of fun.  I haven´t been able to see him too much since the CCM and we were really good friends there.  It was fun to catch up with him and see how he´s doing.

On Sunday, we brought David to church with us and he really liked it.  He stayed for all 3 hours and he said it didn´t even feel long for him which is a good sign if he´s saying that from the start.  The ward did a really good job of welcoming him and I think he felt pretty good in the capilla.

Something I forgot to mention before is that the missionaries in Dos Hermanas let me know a little while back that Helton just baptized his son Vitor in the new capilla there, so I was super happy to hear that! :)

One of my favorite scriptures lately has been Phillipians 3:12-14

"12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Here Paul talks about how Christ has already won the battle for us and that he has done what is necessary for us to receive the "prize" that is laid up for us in heaven.  He admits that he hasn´t yet reached that point yet, but he leaves behind everything that impedes his progression so he can press forward toward exaltation with the help of Christ.  We must leave behind our sins, our pride, and anything else, and once we´ve left it we must not look back, but keep looking forward.

That´s all for this week.  Love you guys a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck.

Love,

Elder Adamson

p.s. the pictures attached are of the Triple Threat (Elder Thia, me, and Elder Richardson)

Elder Adamson's Letter 11/3/2014

What´s up??  We´ve had another great week here in San Fernando.  Here´s the highlights what we´ve been up to:

on Monday, we were invited to attend a Noche de Hogar at the Aragón family´s house and there daughter Nahiara, who is about 9 or 10, gave the lesson and it was one of the cutest things ever.  First, we watched a REALLY old video about temples and families but it had a really great message and then she started to tell us that it is through our temples we can have forever families.  After that, we read just about every scripture in the standard works that had the word "family" in it. hahaha  It was so great to see that even she remembers the day that her family was sealed in the temple a few years ago and she knows why it´s so important to be sealed in the temple.  Eternas pueden ser las familias.

On Tuesday we had our last district meeting with Hermana Brown.  She went home this week.  She´s been a great missionary here and we´re going to miss her.  Later in the afternoon we had a cita with Walter and we taught him about the Restoration and the lesson went pretty well.  He´s not keeping his commitments very well, but we´re going to see if we can involve some members to help him out.

On Wednesday, we caught David and Angela at home and we taught about the plan of Salvation and they received it very well.  At the end of the lesson, the Spirit was strong, so we set a baptismal date for both of them on the 22nd of November and they both agreed. We haven´t had a baptismal date here for quite a while so we´re pretty excited for that.  Since that day, we have seen them a few more times and they´re still doing great.  They weren´t able to come to church this week because David had to go to the doctor, but this next week they´ve both committed to come.

Friday was Halloween, and people here are really starting to celebrate it.  They´re not very creative on their costumes yet (they were all the typical witch, vampire, ghost), but we actually did see quite a few kids out trick or treating.  We got to see Alicia that day and she read the chapter we left her 2 times but she forgot to pray so we recommitted her to do that.  She´s doing really well and seems to be super sincere.  She´s a little skeptical about the restoration still, but she knows what she needs to do to find out if it´s true.  Now, thanks to the week of finding and the week before it, we have a really good teaching pool and lots of people with good potential.  Things are picking up here in San Fernando and we´ve been making some plans to get all of our new investigators involved with the ward, so we´re looking forward to another great week this week.

In other news, on Saturday night, i walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth and saw a big orange cockroach crawling in the shower and I literally screamed out loud.  We took care of it, though.

I´m still loving the Book of Mormon, and right now I´m reading about Alma and Amulek.

In the part i read this morning in chapter 12 of Alma, Amulek says:

14 For our words will condemn us, yea, all our works will condemn us; we shall not be found spotless; and our thoughts will also condemn us; and in this awful state we shall not dare to look up to our God; and we would fain be glad if we could command the rocks and the mountains to fall upon us to hide us from his presence.

 15 But this cannot be; we must come forth and stand before him in his glory, and in his power, and in his might, majesty, and dominion, and acknowledge to our everlasting shame that all his judgments are just; that he is just in all his works, and that he is merciful unto the children of men, and that he has all power to save every man that believeth on his name and bringeth forth fruit meet for repentance.

We will all one day be accountable for our actions and for what we have become in our probationary time.  We can be assured that if we repent of our sins and improve in our time here, that we can stand before the judgement bar with confidence.  Our Heavenly Father will be more merciful in that day than we might expect, but that does not take away our responsibility to repent and be washed clean by the atonement while we are here on earth.  We´re here for a purpose, and we have to remember that one day we will be judged and Heavenly Father will see if we have worked toward that purpose.  I testify of His mercy and love for us that is shown through the plan of salvation.  It´s real.

That´s the week! Hope everyone is doing well!That´s all and I love you so so so much!  Have a great week!