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| Older Picture - Sister Adams and her new companion Sister Tucker |
(Mom's note: Sorry for the delay, dealt with some technical issues. We just got some pictures today!)
Dear Family,
Phew. This week was really hard. Pretty much everything
came crashing down from last week. But everything is ok, don't worry. I'll
explain :)
Probably the saddest part of the week was with (William).
We met with him on Tuesday with Christian again and he said his family has been
giving him a really hard time about the church. He said he was feeling really
conflicted, because he didn't want to disappoint his parents, but he also felt
like he should really pursue this. We had a great visit reading Alma 32 and
exercising your faith. He really liked it and at the end said that he knows he
needs to keep pursuing this, because if he doesn't, his questions are going to
remain unanswered, and life will continue to be the way it has been for him. He
said he wouldn't be able to meet the rest of the week because his family is
doing renovations and they needed him to help. So luckily we got to talk to him
on facebook and taught him a lesson there on Wednesday. (It was my first member
present lesson on facebook! Best thing ever.) He said he felt like the Book of
Mormon was written just for him.
Then Thursday (Christopher) had been trying to call us
all evening and we kept playing phone tag. Well, finally at 8:30 we got back
home to use the wifi and (William) had messaged us saying this was not for him.
We talked to (Christopher) on the phone and he said that he actually went over
to (William’s) house to see what was wrong (William sent him the samemessage)
and apparently William’s parents anti-ed him very badly, and they told Christopher
they are not fans of the church. More so the mom, than the dad. Anyway, it was
so sad. Especially because I started chatting with William on facebook and
asked him what happened, and he said he just wanted to know more about our
beliefs and was never interested in joining, which was so not true. So he's not
talking to us anymore. Again, it feels like someone breaking up with you! The
next night we went to his next door neighbor's house for dinner, because she is
a member. And it's so silly but I was just so bummed going to his neighborhood
and thinking about the answer that he got to his prayer and now he has totally
cut us off.
Then the other sad thing was when we met with the (Drew)
family. We have been waiting to teach the Law of Chastity until we talked to
Sis. Drew and asked if it was ok to teach it with her 8 year old. She read the
pamphlet ahead of time and then we taught it on Saturday. It went great, they
totally agreed with it. Then Charity asked how many more days until they could
get baptized and we had to explain that Sis.Drew couldn't get baptized until
she gets married. Ugh. So hard to tell them that. Sis. Drew said they've talked
about getting married, but there are a lot of things keeping them from getting
married. We told them to definitely pray about it and we made sure to tell them
we are not pressuring them to do something they don't want to. I thought it
went ok.
But then Sunday morning she messaged me on Facebook and
said they were not coming to church, because she hasn't decided what to do
about marriage. I replied and told her that we definitely still want them to
come to church, whether she is married right away or not, and I still haven't
heard back from her. One of their fellow-shippers that was supposed to pick
them up said they talked on the phone and Sis. Drew explained some of the
situation, and a lot of it was what we guessed.
We're supposed to have them at a members house for dinner
on Tuesday, so hopefully that works out. The kids would still be good to get
baptized, and Sis. Drew said to her fellow-shipper that it'd be fine for the
kids to get baptized, but we are hoping it can be the whole family. Please pray
that everything will work out!
So then.... (Linda). She's supposed to move out by
tomorrow. Earlier this past week she told us that she has to move to a shelter
in Charlotte. And she doesn't know how long she'll have to be there, but she
still was wanting to get baptized in Concord next Sunday. We talked to
President Craven about it and she said if she was going to be there for a
month, and was coming back, she could get baptized here, but if it was longer
than that, she should probably get baptized in Charlotte in her Ward there. So
that was sad, and we needed to figure it all out soon!
Also, Sister Tucker got sick this week with a chest cold
and we were on bikes. Luckily we had a lot of members out with us! But the few
times we rode bikes it was terrible for her. And it was freezing temperatures.
Friday night when we were getting ready for bed, Sister
Tucker asked if I was ok and I just cried and talked for like 15 minutes
straight. Of course everything that week
was weighing on me, and then on top of that, I've still been worried about what
we're going to do over the holidays. Both the week of Thanksgiving and
Christmas we are on bikes, so I was just stressed that we couldn't be
productive. And then after we got in bed I cried and we talked about being at
the end. It's hard to describe the feeling of being at the end. Your whole
mission there's always another day, another transfer, another opportunity to
help someone. Then pretty soon you don't have much left. Like if you're not
seeing a lot of success, you can have a lot of hope that in the next few weeks
or the next area or the next person you meet will be successful. But then you
don't have another transfer or another area, and it's done! The story of your
mission is finished. Also, the transfer does not end this week, it's next
Tuesday. Then this next transfer is only 5 weeks instead of 6.
Of course, life goes on :) It's so hard to explain this
experience sometimes, I wish you could just be in my head!
Now the great things from this week! Today I found we
have a little blender! Also, I loved the CDs you sent this week! Especially the
Tabernacle Choir Primary Songs. I love it so much. It brought so much peace to
my crazy days!
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| Wild Turtle on the Road! |
We found a turtle on the road while riding our bikes.
I've never seen a turtle just sitting outside. Not even someone's pet. And we
ate ice cream at the Cabbarus Creamery on one of the coldest days of the week.
Gotta keep things exciting.
I can't remember if is told you, but in an effort to be
better connected with the members, we decided to make a list of all the members
that we have a good relationship with and the members we don't really know that
well. Without even doing anything, one of the members (part-member’s family,
sometimes less active) saw us outside and invited us to come to dinner on
Friday! Yay. Then another family, the Kings, called us up and said "We
want to get more involved in missionary work. Can you come over so we can
talk!" Yes! This family is super great. They made a plan about how they
can help each of our investigators.
 |
| Eating Ice Cream on one of the coldest Days of the Week |
Then another great thing was when we met with Linda this
week, we had Sis. Ernst with us, who I LOVE. And it was perfect because Sis.
Ernst has a story almost identical to hers with being a single mom, and not
knowing what to do, and being a convert. They just cried talking to each other,
and Linda was so happy seeing someone come out on the other side of the
problems she is going through right now.
Then on Sunday and Linda and her boyfriend, Michael, came
to church.
It was wonderful, and she just knows the gospel SO well.
She is so humble and so teachable. The Windham family had set up earlier in the
week for Linda and Michael and her kids and us to come over to dinner last
night for a "member home lesson". Wow, it was packed in there.
There was 16 of us in all at their house. Amanda shared
her experienced with learning the gospel (she's been meeting with missionaries
since August) at the dinner table, and it was powerful!
She cried as she talked about the life she's had and how
she knows she needed to learn these lessons to be able to receive the gospel.
We had a short lesson we prepared, and at the end Sister
Tucker bore her testimony. All she could get out was "I'd like to share my
testimony that I know.." And she just teared up and I knew exactly why.
And she shared a powerful testimony of Heavenly Father and Christ and the
gospel. Afterwards when everyone was mingling I commented to her something
about how I take for granted baring my testimony and how we have a limited
number of times on our mission to do that. She cried again. I'm a terrible
companion. ;) She had been thinking the same thing though. Luckily no one saw
that happen. :)
Then Bro. Windham pulled Linda and Michael aside and when
they came back, Sis. Windham had a cupcake with a candle and we sang happy
birthday to Linda’s 6 year old, who had his birthday the day before. When we
started singing and she realized it was for her son, she just started crying.
All that she wants is to have a family and to be able to love them and share
time with them. It made me and Sis. Tucker cry, too. Just to see her so
appreciative of something as small as that for her son. She had been so worried
about being able to do something for his birthday. Then she came up to us and
we asked when she was leaving Monday for the shelter. She was smiling so big
and said "I don't think I'm going to Charlotte. I can't explain everything
right now, but I just love this church." She's staying!! We still don't
know how, or who, or what, but she is staying! And getting baptized on Sunday!
(Hopefully for real this time) I wish I could express to
you the love that we felt last night being there though, to have Amanda be in a
home with the kind of life she's always wanted.
I'm just amazed by her. I feel like I'm watching her and
her kid’s life change its course right before my eyes! I've had a lot of people
tell me on my mission that people can't change, but I KNOW that people can.
It's the whole point of the gospel. It can become so
disheartening watching people continue in bad cycles, and seeing generations
continue in bad cycles, sometimes it even seems like it will be impossible for
them to get out, but how incredible it is to watch someone step out of that
through the Atonement and to enter into the cycle of the Doctrine of Christ, of
always changing for the better!
I am gaining a greater understanding of faith and
trusting the Lord. I love the statement from General Conference that says when
trials come, we should say " I understand, Lord. I know what this is. A
time to prove myself, isn’t it?” Then partner with Him to endure well to the
end." It really does take stepping back and talking to Heavenly Father to
have the right perspective and to not lose hope and confidence. My mission has
been the most beautiful experience I've ever had. I'm so excited to see what
the next few weeks bring! I know the Book of Mormon is true, and I know this is
the true church. It has to be!
Love you,
Sister Adams
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