Just Another Week...
Written 3 Jul 2017
Hey, everyone! This week has been, pretty much, just another week. We didn't have anything incredibly exciting happen (like being eaten by dogs) or anything disappointing happen either (like being eaten by dogs). Monday, we knocked a lot of doors and tried to find a less-active member of the church. We did, and set up an appointment for Friday. Tuesday, we had an amazing Zone Conference (big missionary meeting) in Yakima. We then had a lesson with a lady named Rosalva, but she wasn't there, so we knocked doors the rest of the time. Wednesday, we tried to find someone at home, they weren't there, so we knocked some doors until we decided to see if Maria (of Noe and Maria fame) was home, but she wasn't, so we knocked some more doors. In the afternoon, we tried to find a man named Fransisco who works with a member here, but neither he nor the member were reachable, so we knocked some more doors. We then had dinner, talked with a local family of members about family history, went by and tried to find a ton of people, but none of them were home, and then we went to some trailers that are super far away to have a lesson with a guy named Chet. He is cool. He grew up 7th-Day Adventist. He gave us Elk Liverwurst, and then we referred him to the English-speaking missionaries (he speaks no Spanish whatsoever). We finished up the day with our weekly correlation meeting with Brother Corey.
Thursday, I was on exchanges (where I switch places with another missionary for a day) with Elder Poloncic (pronounced pull-ON-sick), in their English area. We talked to a cool lady named Crystal who Elder West and I had actually told the English missionaries to go by her. She's really cool, Native American (from the Yakama nation), and super interested in the Book of Mormon. She wants to read it with her kids! After that, Elder Poloncic and I studied together and had lunch. We then went to the church to have a lesson with a guy named Alvin, but he never showed up, so we went to the Hospital. I played cello at the Hospital for about an hour on a cello we borrowed from a local former member of the church, Aaron. He's really cool and a great guy, and was a music major (in cello) for a time. I played on what was definitely the nicest cello I've touched/seen since starting my mission. I played the Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suite no. 1 and some hymns.
After that, we did service at the Food Bank, helping people go through. We then had dinner at 5 with the Nerdin family, followed by a lesson with a cool guy named Brandon. Elder West and I had also found him a while back and told the English missionaries to go by again, even though they already knew about him. Since then, he's been doing great! It was a really cool lesson, but went REALLY long. Oops. We finished it up by talking to a guy named "Dub" who is a Dubstep dancer. He's super ADHD. We were trying to relate what he was saying about slot cars to the gospel, and he was right with us, but then someone drove through a stop sign. That prompted him to tell us about how when he was a 17-year old volunteer firefighter, he once saw a Native American lady who was driving under the influence with the sunroof open and not using a seat belt. She flipped her car and got cut in half. He described the scene to us in all it's wonderful detail. In my head, I was just going "AAAAAAAH!" but I didn't say much. We ended up relating the gospel back to that by saying "Yeah, the world is terrible, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ helps us through that!"
Friday, I was back with Elder West. First, we tried to find Maria, but she wasn't there, so we came back and planned for the next week. After that, we knocked some doors, had dinner, and tried to find people the rest of the night. We found Jamie's dad, which was great! We had a pretty cool lesson with him, and at the end, Jamie came out! She had been sleeping, but we invited her to a tour of the church building Sunday. We then went to our lesson with the less-active member we had set up on Monday, but he wasn't there, so we knocked some doors.
Saturday, we knocked a lot of doors and tried to find people. It was actually quite eventful. We started out with helping a local member pack up her house to move. We then knocked some doors and talked to an old Mexican couple who was telling us about how they just live in a shack in their son's backyard hoping he would sometimes feed them. That was sad. Later, over the course of the day, we found Sharen, who is the younger sister of a local Spanish-speaking less-active member, and invited her to church. Spoiler: she sadly didn't make it. We also found Noe and Maria again! YAY! We had a great lesson. We also found a lady who said she needed spiritual healing and who told us her husband needed to hear about God because she had just barely found out he was cheating on her. Ouch. She told us to come back that night, but she wasn't there, so we left a Plan of Salvation pamphlet in their door, complete with a personal note saying how it blesses families, and a mormon.org card that asked the question "How can I have a happy marriage?"
We also talked to a guy named Felix on Saturday. He is married to Silvia, a less-active member. He seems to have some... mental challenges. Nothing huge, he just... sits there. Talking to him is also a bit like talking to a talking brick wall. Nothing you say gets through, and after he finishes listening (sometimes this is before you are done talking) he just says the same things over again, as if he didn't even hear. He told us he threw out the Book of Mormon we gave him because he looked in it and discovered it wasn't the Bible. Grr. We tried to explain that it's not SUPPOSED to be the Bible, but it was as if we were talking to a mailbox. It went in one ear and out the other. We also asked him "How do you know if something your preacher tells you is true?"... 3 times. His 3 answers were:
1. "Oh, yes, I believe in God."
2. "You know, Jeremiah 33:3 is a great scripture."
3. "I know it's true because I had a vision that told me God loved me and I would be all right, then the hospital gave me a different doctor."
Seriously, the expressions of sheer confusion on our faces were priceless almost every time he opened his mouth. We finished up the evening by knocking some more doors.
Sunday, we had church. We then had a lesson with Rosalva, who is now investigating the Gospel! Jamie cancelled the church tour last minute because she had to help her mom set something up for today. Darn. After that, we tried to find people, but they weren't home, so we knocked a lot of doors. The area where we were knocking doors had a lot of old cranky people in it, but it's okay.
That's pretty much an overview of my week! Enjoy!
Love you all,
Elder Adams
Questions from Editor Mom
Are you feeling independent these days? How does it feel to be on your own? Do you ever think about it? - Well, yes and no. We're still pretty well supervised, but by each other. I suppose that doesn't change a ton later on, though, since you're always supervised by someone. I try not to think about it too much; it makes me feel weird.
Are you doing anything special to celebrate the 4th? - Um, not really. We'll wave around those sparklers, and we're having a Zone barbecue today in Hood River, but that's about it.
How is the work coming in The Dalles? Any new ideas/fun plans? - It's coming, slowly but surely. We're teaching the youth Sunday School class on how to do missionary work this coming Sunday. That should be exciting!
How did the cello service project go? Was it fun? I hope your companion was OK with it, yes? - It went great! I was on exchanges with Elder Poloncic (pronounced Pull-ON-sick) and he liked it a lot.
Weird or funny stories? - Well, we talked to a guy named Felix, who is married to a less-active member. He seems to have some... mental challenges. Nothing huge, he just... sits there. Talking to him is also a bit like talking to a talking brick wall. Nothing you say gets through, and after he finishes listening (sometimes this is before you are done talking) he just says the same things over again, as if he didn't even hear. He told us he threw out the Book of Mormon we gave him because he looked in it and discovered it wasn't the Bible. Grr. We also asked him "How do you know if something your preacher tells you is true?"... 3 times. His answers were:
1. "Oh, yes, I believe in God."
2. "You know, Jeremiah 33:3 is a great scripture."
3. "I know it's true because I had a vision that told me God loved me and I would be all right, then the hospital gave me a different doctor."
Seriously, the expressions of sheer confusion on our faces were priceless almost every time he opened his mouth.
What inspired you this week? - I was inspired by Zone Conference, and also by Alma 7:11 "And he shall go forth, suffering pains, afflictions, and temptations of every kind, that the word might be fulfilled which saith: He will take upon Him the pains and the sicknesses of His people."
"Y Él saldrá, sufriendo dolores, aflicciónes, y tentaciónes de todas clases, y esto para que se cumpla la palabra que dice: tomará sobre sí los dolores y las enfermedades de su pueblo."
Love you to the moon and back! - I love you on a lunar orbital rendezvous expedition to collect cool rocks followed by a successful splashdown too!
Love,
Elder Adams
Pictures
#ElderAnderson
#MissionPic
#ColumbiaRiverTemple
#explainthelastpicture
#AlltheMissionaries
#Giantlist
#me
#JCPenny
#LiquidationSale
#JGarciaTies
#purple
... And a picture posted on Facebook by Sister Lewis (the mission mom). She said,
Elder Adams giving service at the Mid Columbia Medical Center today. His music would calm any troubled heart.
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