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

Elder Adamson's Letter 3/31/2014

I don´t even know how to start this email off, but here goes.

This week, we focused pretty much everything we had on H... and N...  We went over to their house almost every day,  we did our best to get them involved with members and ward activities and help them to gain a strong testimony about the restored gospel. 

 But, even though we worked hard, I really don´t think WE did much at all.  N... and H... have been so prepared to hear the gospel.  They´ve been in and out of other churches in Brazil because they couldn´t find one that was just right, but the Lord has answered their humble prayer to find the true church in Spain.  H... and N... were both baptized last night in Sevilla by M... A....  This is one of the sweetest things that I´ve seen on my mission. 

 Baptisms are always special, but this one was special in a different way, because I´ve seen the Lord working so much in their lives from all the things they´ve told us.  After their baptism they bore beautiful testimonies, and
it´s something that I´ll never forget. I´m thankful to be a part of all of this work. The Lord truly does prepare people to receive the gospel!  I know that now more than ever!

Our week has really been centered on them and getting them ready for the baptism.  H... and N... will be confirmed members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in two weeks from now (after general conference). I couldn´t be more happy with them. In every lesson with them they listened so attentively and they just soaked everything up, and when it came time for them to have their interviews, they were amazing.  Elder Buckway was amazed when we were walking out of the interview. Just to tell a few more fun things, they invited us over on Sunday morning to eat breakfast with them and guess what we ate.  Just guess. We ate hot dogs for breakfast. ha ha ha  They said it´s typical in Brazil and it was really good, but it was kind of weird to eat it in the morning.  They made some really good toppings though with tomatoes, peppers, and onions.

This week in Church N...´s Mom and Dad visited us in the capilla and we got some pictures with them, so you should be hearing from them pretty soon.  Let me know!  They brought me a second bottle of Cholula this week at church just in case I ran out. ha ha  Sweet folks. Hermana Kunz and Elder Woodford both gave their last testimonies here in the Dos Hermanas Ward and everyone was sad to see them go. They've done a lot of great work here and everyone loves them so much.  We also got to hear testimonies from N..´s parents which was very special for the members here as well.

I also got a call from President Deere telling me that my new companion is Elder Enfield.  Not sure how it's spelled, but  
he´s coming from Puertollano.  He´s been here in the mission for 3 transfers, and I´m excited to meet him!  More next week on the lad.

WHAT A GREAT WEEK.  I can barely believe it.

That´s it for this week!  I love you all and have a good one!

Hasta la próxima  (Until next time)

Elder Adamson

Bowling P-day
 Elder Adamson has not lost his sense of humor or else his appetite has gotten the best of him!!

District Missionaries

Zone Conference, Sevilla, 25 March 2014
Elder Adamson is on the second row in the back wearing a big smile.

Elder Adamson's Letter 3/24/2014

THIS WEEK HAS BEEN AMAZING so I´ll cut to the chase... :)

Tuesday, was an amazing day.  This week Elder Woodford and I found an amazing Brazilian family.  They have only been here in Spain for about 2 weeks and speak next to no Spanish but we´re able to communicate well with each other.  The parents names are E.. and N.. and they´re probably in the 30´s and they have 2 kids named V... (7) and B... (6).  M... invited us over to meet them because they just moved in with him.  Things are going great with them.  Yesterday they came to church with us and the loved it.  The members all welcomed them right in and showed them lots of love.  M... A...(a Spanish member) lived in Brazil for a long time and speaks Portuguese so he´s been helping us out a lot in lessons and in the church. We´ve also been using Portuguese pamphlets.  They´ll learn Spanish really fast though because Portuguese and Spanish are VERY similar.  Even Elder Woodford and I can understand them pretty well.  After church we went to visit them with Alex and we asked if he understood much and he said he understood parts.  We told him that we understood almost all of it and he said something like "Duh! You guys have the gift of tongues!!" hahahaha.  We got into the piso and the first thing N... asked us was "How do we become members of the church?". So, Elder Woodford and I started right into teaching the about the gospel of Jesus Christ and baptism and they excepted a baptismal date for next Sunday after church!!  They had a lot of good questions and ended up asking us about tithing and the word of wisdom in that same lesson so we ended up teaching those things too.  They accepted them so easily I could hardly believe it and it even made me a little nervous, to be honest.  After we talked about those things, we talked to them about how important it is to have a testimony as well, and as soon as we said that, she started telling us about how before when they lived in Brazil they had gone to a lot of churches and that when they decided to move to Spain they had prayed the God would "put them in the correct church".  When they said that I was almost holding back tears I was so amazed.  What a miracle!  They´ve only been here for two weeks, and we had even anticipated teaching them before they moved here because Marcos told us they were coming.  The Lord brought them right to us.  Not only that, he has prepared them even before arriving here.  They accepted the 3 most difficult things for investigators to accept, all in the 3rd cita we had with them (the first 2 we taught the Restoration and watched the Joseph Smith movie in Portuguese.  Baptism, tithing, and the Word of Wisdom.  That´s all I could think about yesterday.  This is one of the most amazing things I´ve seen yet.  Please try to keep this family in your prayers this week!  That has really been the highlight this week.  We´ve had a hard time finding new investigators but this week, was a great blessing.  

We were also blessed to find a new African friend to teach named D....  He´s huge, from Cameroon, and the nicest guy ever. He speaks perfect Spanish too. 

  He and his friend J...work as bouncers at the dance clubs here. It´s funny though, because these guys wouldn´t hurt a fly.

This was a kind of different letter, but I didn´t want to waste time writing the less significant stuff that I sometimes do.  

How is your ward in Dos Hermanos? 

The ward here is really good, and we have a great bishop as well.  It´s really nice a friendly.  More than it was is Murcia, but    they´re good people there too.

What do you do for service in your mission?

Depends.  Sometimes we help with house repairs, sometimes we teach English.  I haven´t painted any houses or anything yet, like the typical missionary... ha ha

  What are the plans to watch April Conference?

           No idea. haha Probably just in Spanish with the members
  What has been your best creation in the kitchen?

          Elder Woodford and I make some MEAN chicken tacos
  What do you do to retain your converts?

             Something President Deere told me is that we need to keep our converts involved with the Ward, and with the Lord, so that´s what we do.  Help them to keep reading and prayer, going to church and ward activities and things like that.

That's the week, though.  I hope everything is going well back at home!

Élder Adamson

Elder Adamson's Letter 3/17/2014

Hey Err´body.  Here´s the week!

Last Monday, we went to the Cathedral in Sevilla and it is HUGE.  It´s a really awesome place and there were tons of Americans there too, ha ha.  I got some pictures there including one next to the tomb of Christopher Columbus. .

Finding  Christopher Columbus

We went and saw the girls and S..that night and things are still the same with them...

Tuesday was just an absolutely normal day.

Wednesday we found a new investigator named P....  She's got to be at least 70 years old, but she listens!  Things   don´t look like they´ll be too fruitful there, but we might be able to find some more new investigators with her help.  We went back again later during the week and she asked us where we were from and we told her we were from the United States and she replied, "Where´s that?".  Me and Elder Woodford just kind of looked at each other and said "in the West", and then she followed that answer up with "Where´s the West?"  Soo.....     Later that day, we contacted this enormous African named D... and he seemed like a super nice guy. All the Africans here are the nicest people ever.

Thursday, we ate with some members and I had some chicken liver and chicken heart as well.  Not my favorite thing      I´ve eaten here, but it went down easily. ha ha.  Later that night we went to go visit N... and R...and his mom is here visiting until April.  We had a great time over at their house and got to teach R... about the restoration.  Elder Woodford and I were both slipping a few spanish words out here and there, but other than that the lesson went great.  They also fed us some Crock-pot spaghetti.  Great night.

Friday, We ate with the V... family and shared a mensajito  (message) with them at their house and then had our English class later but only one student showed up. We also visited X... and J... and A... that night.

Saturday, we helped J... V... clean the capilla (chapel)  in the morning with A... which was good fun, and then we took A... with us to visit E....  NOTHING was accomplished in that cita and I think we´re done going there.  She just wanted to bible bash about things she didn´t even understand herself.  People like that just really can´t be taught, because they don´t want to be. She doesn´t except hardly anything we say and there was one point were she tried to tell us we were wrong when we said that Christ was resurrected in the flesh.  It was a bit ridiculous.  Later that night we went to a birthday party of a member and brought A... and J... along with us. 

Sunday, was good.  I translated at church again and I´m getting lots better at it.  After church we went to go see P... and M...(members) and they fed us a TON of food.  Later that afternoon, we went to N... and R...´s house again to teach another lesson.  This time we taught about the gospel of Jesus Christ and it went great.  By the way, their little girl is named Olivia and she is only like a month old.  She´s the only child they have.  They also fed us some Tacos and GUESS WHAT WAS OUT ON THE TABLE.  THEY HAD CHOLULA.  I threw some of that on my tacos and R... told me that next time they go to buy things on the base, she´d pick some up for me.  Woooooooooo!!!!!!

This week I got to talk with L... M... from Murcia and I was so excited to talk to him.  He is really doing well in his conversion and has a calling and everything. He was baptized for the right reasons and I´m so glad I was a part of his conversion process. His testimony is still as strong as ever even though he´s getting a lot of negative pressure from his mom.  His foundation is on Christ, though, and he´s doing well.  If we build our testimonies upon the rock of our Savior, we will never fall! (Helaman 5:12)

Hope you've had a great week back at home!! I love you!

Élder Adamson

Elder Adamson's Letter 3/10/2014

Hello Family!  I don´t have much time to write today, so this letter will be a little shorter, but I´ll throw in all the highlights.

This week we got to go visit the J...´s and they fed us some pot roast and everything.  N... is a return missionary and his wife, R...,  has basically been a member her whole life.  They both work for the military doing different things and they met in Japan, where they got married and are now living here and working at the Air Force base.  We had a great time over at their house and played a few games and everything. This Sunday at church, N... told us he wants us to come over and teach her the missionary lessons, because she knows next to nothing about the doctrine of the church because shortly after her baptism, her whole family inactivated.  They are really great people, and it will be a really special chance for us to teach her. IN ENGLISH TOO.

This week we also had a REALLY weird cita with S....  He told us about how his tattoos are "protecting shields" like the Holy Ghost... Hmmm..  Then he stood up and pulled his shirt up and gave us a 360 turn.  What a sight. ha ha ha  He has a LOT of tattoos.  This week I also got to do an intercambio with Elder Buckway and we had a good time together.  He hooked me up with a bunch of candy he got in a package because mine has long since expired.  We also had a really good Zone meeting about Obedience and Talking with everyone, and we all left pretty inspired to be better missionaries.  My buddy Elder Ordoñez from Murcia is now serving in Sevilla as my Zone Leader so I´m really happy about that.  We all went out to eat at this Bolivian restaurant after the meeting and got stuffed full of food.  We were happy after though.  We have had a bit of a rough go trying to find new investigators this week (No one we have right now is really progressing), but things are looking up for next week.  We´ve got plans to get some good new ones.

Last night, we had a cita with the mother of R... and R....  She used to be a VERY active member of the church, she served a mission, got sealed in the temple and eventually divorced, and since the divorce she has pretty much stopped coming to church.  Her testimony was shaken, she told us, because she had always done the things she was supposed to for all 25 years she had in the church, but things didn´t turn out the way she had hoped.  She said she had always kept the commandments, always been faithful in her callings, got sealed to a worthy return missionary in the temple.  She kept telling us about how she did all the right things, but in the end, things didn´t turn out how she wanted them too.  Can you see her mistake?  Life doesn´t always turn out the way we want it to, and that´s not necessarily a bad thing. We are children of an all-knowing God.  He loves us, and he knows what he wants us to be and where he wants us to go.(Mosiah 4:9) When things don´t turn out the way we hoped we CANNOT lose faith in God.  In these moments, we need to exercise MORE faith and remember that our ways aren´t God´s ways. (Ether 12:6)  He has a plan for each one of us, and we are important to Him.

• What does the upcoming transfer look like for you?
• I´ll almost certainly be staying here in Dos Hermanas because Elder Woodford is going home. We´ll see what happens.
• Is the food getting better are you just becoming more accustomed to it?
• We eat a lot less with members here, but I´m definitely a lot more used to eating under-salted things drenched in olive oil.

Have a great week! Lots of love from Sevilla!!

Os quiero muchísimo. (I love you very much)

Élder Adamson

Elder Adamson's Letter 3/3/2014

Hello hello!  Here´s the week!

So last Monday, we went to Plaza de España which is a really famous place in Sevilla.  It was awesome and I got some good pictures there.  A scene in the first Star Wars was filmed there.  

Later, we went to a really good Spanish restaurant and ate a bunch of little sandwiches called faccios. That night, after Pday was over we went and visited the girls and their dad made us some really good garbanzo bean soup with some African spices.  Later we visited S... and watched a little video about the church in Africa with him and he seemed to like it.

Tuesday,  we had a district meeting with all the new people to Dos Hermanas and it was good fun.  We all ate ice cream afterwards and got to know each other.  More to come about them.  Later we went and visited X... and she was really sick and everyone in the house was just exhausted from staying up and taking care of her.  Later that night, we went to J... and A...´s house and started with the new member lessons with them, and they can pretty much teach us the lessons. MAQUINAS.(MACHINES)

Wednesday morning we went to Montequinto to try and meet with S..., but he ended up not being home, so we just shared a quick message with his wife and son and then headed over to M... A...´s house.  There, his wife made us some really good Japanese noodles and chicken and he told us a bunch of stories. He´s like 80 years old, but he looks like 65, for real.  He could beat me up if he wanted to for sure. Not kidding.  That night we had our Noche de Hogar ( FHE) and brought A... and his older sister E... with us and we all had a great time as usual.

Thursday, after we did our planning A... came with us to all our citas in the afternoon to be a "mini missionary".  We had some pretty bad luck because 2 of our investigator citas failed us, so we had to just go visit some members so we wouldn't have to make him walk around all day.  That was still good though, because he got to meet some new people in the ward.

Friday, A... came with us in the morning and was the means of a couple little miracles.  He told us his mom wanted us to pass by a few of her friends from the Dominican Republic, so we did and they saw A... and let us right in.  We ended up getting 2 solid new investigators and A... did most of the talking and testifying.  I was amazed at him.  He was sitting there, testifying of doctrine, only 15 years old, just got baptized, and I think he teaches better than I do.  He did the WORK in that cita.

Saturday, we got failed on both of our citas in the morning, but we had a good new member lesson with A... and J... at J...´s house.  That night, we went to R... C...´s house for his birthday party, which was pretty much a ward activity because there were so many people from the capilla there.  We had a good time with the members there and ate some good food.

Sunday, both A... and J... received the priesthood and got to pass the sacrament and prepare it as well.  They loved it. I got to translate again for the J...s and did a slightly better job.  It was fast Sunday, so the fast talking Spanish ladies were pretty hard to translate.  After church we went to the V...s house and ate.  I ate MUSSELS.  Slurped those puppies right out of the shells with no fear or gag reflex. I¨M INVINCIBLE.  After walking around quite a bit with Elder Woodford, we finally got in with J... M...  He pretty much just tried to tell us the whole time that all religions come from ancient people worshiping the sun.  He claims that Jesus doesn´t appear in history at all.  Wow.  Anyway, he at least read a little of the Book of Mormon, so we´ll see if we can show him a little history ;).

After that cita, I got thinking about what he said, and I realized that this guy is just kind of looking for reasons to not believe in God because it´s easier for him that way.  A lot of people have that problem here.  Instead of looking for God, they look for reasons to prove He doesn't exist.  There´s only one REAL way to know that He´s there and it´s by asking Him in a prayer.  Our Heavenly Father knows how to give good gifts unto those who ask Him and if we ask Him in sincere prayer about a gospel truth it will be given unto us.  Joseph Smith is proof of that promise.  James 1:5 is a true promise.

 Do you have the opportunity to sing a lot in church or was last week an exception?  
•            I´ve sung once at church and at a couple of baptisms, but that´s about it.
What is wrong with X...? I know you visit her a lot and say she isn't doing well.
•            Well first of all she´s fighting cancer, and her immune system is really low. Plus they are looking for a new piso and she´s really stressed out.
Are you teaching A... and J...'s family now that they are baptized?
•         yes we are!  poco a poco

That´s all for this week!!  Love you and have a great week!

Elder Adamson