Dear Family,
The leaves are finally starting to change! Yay :) can you
believe it's almost November? I feel like October went by and I didn't even
realize what month it was.
This week was full of miracles! It was also hard. I'll
start with what was hard. I didn't realize how hard it would be towards the end
of your mission to keep going sometimes. In our mission they have a
"Sprint to the Finish" pledge that we sign that I just got in the
mail this week, to promise that we'll do our best to the end. I heard people
talk about the "Sprinting Papers" and it didn't really occur to me
how hard it would be the closer you get to being done. But I know Heavenly
Father will help! 1 Corinthians 9:24
The great things from this week- while we were on
exchanges, there was a little 8 year old girl outside named Patience, and she
ran up to us asking if we were doing Bible studies. She said she wanted us to
come meet her family. After a little persistence, they let us in. There is the
mom, Listelle, and then her daughter, Aliana (teenager) and her son, Maylynn,
and then Charity. We had a great Restoration lesson with them and invited them
to be baptized and they said yes! Then we taught them the next day when Sis.
Tucker got back and they agreed on November 16th! Yay! When we asked about
their Book of Mormon reading, they had all read! Aliana is the best. She is a
quiet girl, but I can tell she has got a powerful spirit moving her! She always
asks when we are coming back, and she read more than the assigned reading when
we saw them the next time. Thursday we were reading the Book of Mormon with
them and Christy was kind of squinting at the book and looking around while we
read. I thought she was giving a skeptical look. When it got to her turn to
read, she busted out laughing and said "ummm. I can't see the words very
well!" Phew. Much better than what I was thinking. We had a member with us
on Saturday when we taught the Plan of Salvation, and afterwards Christy said
"can I talk to you privately?" We though "oh no!!" We
stepped outside and she told us how she loves doing things for the Holidays for
her kids, but she doesn't have the means to do costumes for them this year, and
asked if there was something we could do that they could borrow some. She is so
sweet! You could tell she felt bad asking, but I was so so happy she did. What
a great way for members to help. So we are bringing some over tomorrow for them
to look at and borrow. So so happy for them! I just love them so much!
We also set another baptism date with Linda. Goodness,
I've never seen someone want to be baptized so badly. I asked her about setting
another date (since she didn't make the last one) and she said "I was
thinking the 9th!" It was the same day we had planned to set with her! So
we're happy for her. She just needs lots of prayers to be able to find
somewhere to live by the end of the month. And with some of the adversity
people are giving her because of joining the church. It was so sad this week
meeting with her and she just cried saying how much she wanted to get baptized.
She has a solid testimony. Some people were giving her a hard time about the
temple and how people can't go in, and she explained perfectly the reason for
the temple standard. I just wish you could meet her! She is African American,
pretty tall, and she has 6 kids, 3 of them live with her, and the SWEETEST
smile and so caring. Ahh. Can't wait for her.
Also, on Saturday we visited an excommunicated member who
is working on getting back, and then when we left Sister Tucker said hello to a
lady and she didn't respond. We kind of waited, and still nothing, but I caught
a glimpse of her ear and it had some kind of device in it. YES, WE FOUND
ANOTHER ONE! She was surprised I could sign and she had never met a missionary
she could sign with before she said. We are seeing her on Wednesday :) Once
again, it's amazing how quickly I lose my ASL.. I was seriously struggling to
know what to say to her. But yes, it was a miracle.
Also, we haven't had neighbors across the hall in our
complex, but a family just moved in. We walked down the stairs and the father
was at the bottom and we started talking and he asked if we went to church. We
told him where we were from and he said "I might be a member of that
church". At first I thought he was joking with us and saying he was a
Latter-day Saint, or something. But what he meant was that they are looking for
a church and they want to learn more! So we're seeing them this week, too.
Wow, in some ways this week has felt long and also short.
I need to just relax. I think what happens if stress builds up from the week
but I just don't do anything with it, just let it build up. I feel like I'm fine,
because I'm not doing anything on the outside to show I'm stressed, but on the
inside I think I am. If that makes sense.. :)
This week we had stake conference. It is still so weird
being in Charlotte. It's like where all the action is. Saturday night they had
recent converts speak, which was great, of course. The Cravens were there,
which was fun. They spoke on Sunday along with several other people. My
favorite was Sent from my iPad
Interesting experience from this week- we were role
playing the Restoration and I just started crying when we were sharing our
testimonies of Joseph Smith! What in the world? It was just a practice! Haha.
Good thing we had such a great experience, because later we saw a man who is a
member but doesn't really believe it any more. It was another one of those
times where someone has some really confusing ideas and has read a lot of anti.
But I still told him my testimony of the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, and
felt even more confident because the Spirit had even confirmed that testimony
that same morning.
Phew. I just feel so internally exhausted. It's going to
be a good week though :) we're on bikes. So that will be fun. And we can't
switch like we did in Morganton because we share the car with the sisters in
University City in Charlotte and they live 30 minutes away. But it's ok, I've
had more members come out with us in this Ward than in any other I've been in.
Speaking of other wards, if you email Sister Evangelista, tell her I love her
and miss her so much! Also, I would love if she could take a picture of my
favorite spot of Morganton sometime before she leaves. She'll know what I'm
talking about :) and the pictures we took at the mission office before
transfers. Also, how are the Tucker's in Colfax? I love them. I hope they are
doing well.
Well, I just love you all so much. Can't wait to see you.
I hope you all have a wonderful week!!
Love,
Sister Adams
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