Faith!

Dear Family,

As I was reading the Book of Mormon chapters this week, I kind of laughed thinking about the Isaiah chapters we were reading and how confusing they are sometimes. In companion study we always talk about what we learned in personal study and whenever I have read the Isaiah chapters I say "Well, I read the Isaiah chapters in the Book of Mormon and... it was pretty good. Yep. Not much else to say." But there is a great quote from President Packer about the Isaiah chapters that says: 

"Then, just as you settle in to move comfortably along [reading the Book of Mormon], you will meet a
barrier. ... Interspersed in the narrative, are chapters reciting the
prophecies of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. They loom as a
barrier, like a roadblock or a checkpoint beyond which the casual
reader, one with idle curiosity, generally will not go" . . .

"You, too, may be tempted to stop there, but do not do it! Do not stop
reading! Move forward through those difficult-to-understand chapters
of Old Testament prophecy, even if you understand very little of it.
Move on, if all you do is skim and merely glean an impression here and
there. Move on, if all you do is look at the words" (in Conference
Report, Apr. 1986, 76; or Ensign, May 1986, 61)

I always thought it was funny that even an Apostle said that it can be difficult, and if we need to, we can just skim it ;) However, I did learn that because they didn't want to take too much space up in the Book of Mormon with the cross-references, it is a really good idea to read the actual chapters from Isaiah in the Bible, because they included WAY more cross references and notes. 

Anyway. I love the Book of Mormon! I also LOVE the Christ-like Attributes challenge we are doing as a mission. And I am so glad that you are going to do it with me! This week I learned a lot about faith. I think sometimes we think faith is this thing that is kind of blind, maybe ignorant, or that it's not very practical. But in actuality, Faith in Christ is based on our understanding of Him! I especially love this description in the Bible Dictionary that says:

"The Lord has revealed Himself and His perfect character, possessing in
their fullness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy,
unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to
enable the mind of man to place confidence in Him without reservation."

So to develop Faith in Christ, we can actually get to know Him! We don't have to just trust in some mysterious being that we don't know. He actually wants us to understand and know His characteristics. Elder Richard G. Scott said "Faith is not illusion nor magic, but a power rooted in eternal principles." Faith really is powerful. I have definitely felt it. And I also learned how our faith in anything - Word of Wisdom, Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith - needs to be rooted in and stem from our faith in Jesus Christ. I have really wanted to strengthen my relationship with the Savior, because I feel pretty close to Heavenly Father and to the Spirit, but I sometimes get confused about what exactly my relationship with Christ is. I have been praying to strengthen it, and I have been blessed!! I definitely feel a lot close to Him and I think about Him a lot more often. 

Alright. Now for what has happened this week...

Interesting week. We didn't have the car, so we were kind of limited to where we could go, but it was ok! Tuesday we got a ride from a member to this area and we walked around trying to find different people. The area at first was really a nice neighborhood; it really reminded me of Herriman! We even saw a little mountain and Sister Farber and I about died. It has been so long since I have seen one of those. 

It's kind of a pathetic mountain. But it made us SO happy. Anyway, as we started walking, the neighborhood went from this ^ to WAY not good. Super bad part of town! We did not feel very good being there, so we didn't stay long, even though it was the middle of the day.  Anyway. Downtown Winston-Salem always kind of gets me down because there are just so many people that have lost their way, and I wish they could be happier. I sometimes get overwhelmed because I just wish that I could help all of them. But I have to remember I don't need to reach everyone in Winston-Salem, but rather I need to focus on the one, or the few that I can affect at different periods of time. 

Anyway. It was beautiful weather this week! I had a great time walking and biking. Sister Farber and I talk a lot when we walk, so that has been fun :) We have been teaching a family whose mom is a member, and there is a son serving a mission and there are two daughters that are members, but the two youngest are not because their family has kind of been less-active. So (Stacie) and (Kaisie) finally accepted a baptism date! After months of saying they were going to set one, they finally have settled on a day! They are such cute girls. 10 and 12 years old. They are so cute. So that's been great :) Other than that, we don't really have a lot of investigators. We have been teaching another little 9 year old who is the daughter of a less-active, and we have set a baptism date but we found out from the member that drives them to church that the mom has been going to another church, and that the 9 year old told them she doesn't want to get baptized and if she did, she is going to go to this other church that her mom goes to anyway. Sooo she is definitely not ready. Which is sad :( But hopefully one day. 

I am definitely growing a ton. (Not in height. Haha.) But people always talk about how quickly you grow on your mission and it is so true. I feel like the experiences I am having are helping me to increase my character and faith at a much quicker pace than before my mission. It's great :) I am happy because it is preparing me for the future :)

I love you all! Thanks so much for your support :)

-Sister Adams