Week 25: In which I settle in with Elders Steadman and Garcia, get sick, and help David towards Baptism.

Othello and Desdemona

 

!Hola, mi familia y amigos! !Aqui estoy en Othello, un bonito lugar con exellentes personas! He escuchado que hay un taqueria, La Taqueria Guerrera, que tiene comida muy, muy buena. Estly animado para probarla!

 

Hello my family and friends! Here I am in Othello, a pretty place with excellent people. I have heard that there is a taco place, La Taqueria Guerrera, that has really, really good food. I am excited to try it!

Pues, [Well,] I'm here! The missionaries here are just the best, and my new companion, Elder Steadman, is awesome. Also, we have a weird phantom three-missionary companionship going on here. We're also companions with Elder Garcia right now, while he waits for his new companion to arrive (late) sometime this week. Weird story, that. Elder Garcia normally works in Mattawa, not far from here. He also has a car, which we get to use. Hallelujah!

I'm also alive, though only barely. I am really quite sick right now. It's pretty awful. I am completely sapped of energy, and feel like I'm dying. Hurk. Lots of congestion, and it's not really fun. Still, that's the least of what's happened here!

So, to explain the title of this email, I'm currently serving in the city of Othello. While walking around the other day, I was shocked to realize we were on the street of Desdemona! Hehe. #Shakespearenerd

Okay, now for some interesting things! As I mentioned in my last email, we do missionary work both in English and Spanish. That means we cover two wards... in two different buildings... that meet at the same time. Awkward, right? Normally we have to switch off which one we attend, but this week, since we had a car, we went to sacrament meeting at the Spanish Ward (where I gave a talk), then went to the English Ward for classes! Haha! There's the power of missionaries: magically attending 2 different wards at the same time! 

We have been teaching some awesome people. For one, we're teaching David, who decided to work towards being baptized on the 10th of December! He's super awesome, and we have a lot of hope for him. We've also been going by an awesome guy named Ernesto. We helped him rake up leaves in his yard, and talked with him a bit too. He broke down and really opened up to us when Elder Garcia shared the beautiful truth of Eternal Families with him. He's a really awesome guy.

We also ran into a cool lady, who doesn't live far from us! We knocked on her door only to discover that she regularly volunteers at the food bank with us! She wasn't really interested in hearing our message, but she was super interested in family history. She was kind of sad that she didn't have internet or a way do do it, even though she really wanted to. However, she was super excited to learn that there is a free family history center for the community in our building! She asked us to give her the schedule for when it's open, and maybe get some people to help her figure out how to do it.

Finally, we had an interesting experience when we found out that the people who had shown interest in us coming back were actually Jehovah's Witnesses who wanted to argue with us. We tried in vain to share our message, but they would have nothing of it. They just kept trying to argue, so we just invited them to ponder and pray about the few things we had shared and said we had to leave. Then we left. I'm sure that's not the first time that kind of thing is going to happen.

This is such an awesome area, and the members are just the best! They're so fun, and so friendly. I know I'm going to enjoy my time here immensely.

I love the work here, and I look forward to the time I'll have here! I also love all of you, I miss you, and I send you all my best wishes. Still, I wouldn't trade this for the world!

Much love,

Elder Adams

 

[Questions from Editor Mom]

How's the new area? As beautiful as Wenatchee? - Do you mean the landscape? If so, probably not. However, if you mean to I love it here, YES!! The people make it beautiful.

Tell us about Elder Steadman. - Red hair, great at math, very smart, quite dedicated, and an awesome companion. Outgoing.

You never told me if you ripped your suit pants playing Dinosaur (ehem). It doesn't really matter; it's water under the bridge. I'm just curious. - Actually, no. I don't know how I ripped my suit pants, but I would never wear a suit for that anyway.

What are your living conditions like? (Are you in an apartment? Living with members? Sleeping on a park bench?) Do tell. - We're in an apartment, which is quite nice. In some ways it's nicer than before, and in some ways not. For example, this time we don't have a washer/dryer in the apartment.

Are you living with other elders, or is it just you and Elder Steadman? - Normally, it will be just Elder Steadman and I. Currently, we are also living with Elder Garcia until his new companion arrives (weird situation). Normally, though, it will just be the two of us.

What kinds of people have you met/come in contact with? - We met an awesome guy named Ernesto. We were going to try to teach him, but we ended up cleaning up his leaves for a while instead. However, Elder Garcia talked with him for a while at the same time. When Elder Garcia shared with him the principle of eternal families, Ernesto broke down and really opened up to us. He has a beautiful heart, and is a great guy.

We also went back to teach a "potential" investigator, only to find out that they were Jehovah's Witnesses and not actually really potential. They just wanted to argue with us, I guess. We tried to testify, but they just kept denying everything. We shared a few scriptures in love, and simply invited them to pray about our message. We then we had somewhere else to go and left. They were very nice people, but EXTREMELY closed. It was funny, it was pretty clear towards the end they didn't really know how to counter us. We managed to avoid an all-out bible bash! Yay! They were definitely trying to bash us, though.

I understand Elder Steadman plays piano. Have you thought of doing something special with music during the Christmas season? - Not yet. Still trying to figure everything else out.

Do you have a car? Bikes? Or are you still walking? - We have bikes, except that while we have Elder Garcia with us, we get to use his car.

Do you use church media or videos, like The Restoration or Legacy, when you teach? - Occasionally, when appropriate. I have in the past, certainly.

Do you have everything you need? - That I know of, yes. Just not my health right now. I feel pretty dead. I don't know if I caught the flu, since I'm not throwing up, but if not, it's a REALLY bad cold. It's been going around pretty much all the missionaries here in Othello, so at least I know the end is somewhat near.