Wow. I'm going to include a short excerpt from my letter to President Lewis:
Really, I've spent an inordinate amount of time in the last 7 days thinking about my eyeballs.
This has never been truer. To explain, I unfortunately discovered over the course of the past week that I must have developed really bad allergies to... something. I don't know what. It might be the smoke in the air. Honestly, all I know is that I have had super itchy eyes and hives on the insides of my eyelids. It's really not pleasant at ALL. It took me a long time to figure out what was wrong, since I figured it was just styes or something. Not fun, but when I got some eye drops (like the mission nurse told me to), it got a lot worse. Apparently, I also developed an allergy to the eye drops. Thankfully, Saturday I got some antihistamine eye drops to help, and you know what? They work wonders! Sadly, it wasn't quite enough, so Sunday I also tried taking some Benadryl. Man, that stuff is about as miraculous as Sudafed when you're congested. I didn't even get drowsy, and it was amazing! My eyes are not yet completely better, but they're a lot better than they were on Friday or Saturday. Yikes. It was baaaaaad.
That took up a lot of my time and attention this week, but here's a quick summary. For time's sake, I'm going to list going by potentials and tracting both as "finding". That should make it go waaaay faster.
Monday: 6-9 - Finding
Tuesday: 10:30-12:00 - District Meeting in Goldendale
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:30-1:20 Wait for other Elders to finish a Baptismal Interview
1:20-2:00 Drive back from Goldendale
2:00-3:00 Visit a really cool lady named Luz Maria. She is from Mexico, just visiting her grandkids here in The Dalles. She is a member of another Christian church in Mexico, and some imposter missionaries knocked on her door pretending to be from our church. They told her we believed that Joseph Smith was greater than Jesus Christ, but when we talked to her, we helped her understand what we actually believe. We gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon, and she's been reading it! It's awesome! She's really softened up a lot, and she's now really interested in what we have to share. She's going back to Mexico really soon, and said she would love for missionaries to visit her there. She said she'll look up the church when she gets back, because she loves the Book of Mormon so much. She gave us her information to send down to the missionaries in Irapuato, Guanajuato (where she lives).
Wednesday: Finding all day, except we did a little service in the afternoon helping the Food Bank unload a truck. We also had dinner with some newly moved-in members, the Diaz family.
Thursday: Thursday, we did service helping Annalie Cantrell, a member, weed her garden for a few hours in the morning. The Zone Leaders were on exchanges with the Assistants to the President, so Elder Allsop was there with us! He was my Zone Leader for a long time in Othello. After helping her weed (she's recovering from surgery), she fed us lunch. We then went over and gave a blessing to Sister Cantrell's dad, who lived nearby. We then studied and did service for the Food Bank. We followed that up with finding at Heritage Heights, a relatively new apartment complex near the Catholic Church (that church looks like either a volcano or a missile silo). That night, we had dinner with the Randall family. There were 9 missionaries at that dinner! Us, the 1st Ward Elders + their mini-missionary, the Zone Leaders, and the Assistants to the President. It was awesome. We finished up the night by finding.
Friday: Plan, find, and eat dinner with the Chavers.
Saturday: Finding, all day. Had dinner with the Telfords.
Sunday: Find and go to church.
Now, to finish off with another excerpt from my letter to President Lewis (including the previous one, actually):
We've found a few more people, but we haven't been able to find them again. Lucero is one. She's 21, and seemed really interested. She said she felt something when she talked with us, and has felt it before. However, whenever her mom comes home, she loses that feeling (her mom is SUPER Catholic... but doesn't actually practice very much). She said that she felt really interested in the message we were sharing, and told us to come back at11:00 the next morning, but she wasn't there. We haven't been able to find her again. We also found Jorge and Claudia, who we're visiting tonight. We hope that works out, because they're a really nice family that goes to a Christian church in Hood River right now.
The biggest miracle, though, was with Noe and Maria. This last Sunday, we hadn't even come close to hitting any of our goals. In fact, we were at straight zeros. It was frustrating for me, especially considering the fact that my eyes were already causing so many problems. Really, I've spent an inordinate amount of time in the last 7 days thinking about my eyeballs. In lieu of the fact that we were so far from reaching our goals, I decided to hold my own personal special fast Sunday to have us hit our goals that day. That meant 3 new investigators, 2 on-date, and 2 at church. I figured the easiest to hit might be the new investigators, followed by at church, followed by on-dates (We just don't have very many investigators at all right now, and the ones aren't making a lot of progress).
Sadly, we still did not hit our goals. However, something happened which was miraculous to me: Noe and Maria came to church! We called them beforehand to invite them, and they said they were already planning on coming. That meant we did hit one of our goals. It wasn't all of them, but honestly, it was enough of a miracle for me. I personally feel the Lord's hand was in that one tender mercy. They still have a long way to go, but we have been able to set up a really solid appointment with them for the first time in well over a month. (We had an appointment with them last Tuesday, but it was not super solid and they ended up not being there. This one is a lot more solid.)
We've found a few more people, but we haven't been able to find them again. Lucero is one. She's 21, and seemed really interested. She said she felt something when she talked with us, and has felt it before. However, whenever her mom comes home, she loses that feeling (her mom is SUPER Catholic... but doesn't actually practice very much). She said that she felt really interested in the message we were sharing, and told us to come back at11:00 the next morning, but she wasn't there. We haven't been able to find her again. We also found Jorge and Claudia, who we're visiting tonight. We hope that works out, because they're a really nice family that goes to a Christian church in Hood River right now.
The biggest miracle, though, was with Noe and Maria. This last Sunday, we hadn't even come close to hitting any of our goals. In fact, we were at straight zeros. It was frustrating for me, especially considering the fact that my eyes were already causing so many problems. Really, I've spent an inordinate amount of time in the last 7 days thinking about my eyeballs. In lieu of the fact that we were so far from reaching our goals, I decided to hold my own personal special fast Sunday to have us hit our goals that day. That meant 3 new investigators, 2 on-date, and 2 at church. I figured the easiest to hit might be the new investigators, followed by at church, followed by on-dates (We just don't have very many investigators at all right now, and the ones aren't making a lot of progress).
Sadly, we still did not hit our goals. However, something happened which was miraculous to me: Noe and Maria came to church! We called them beforehand to invite them, and they said they were already planning on coming. That meant we did hit one of our goals. It wasn't all of them, but honestly, it was enough of a miracle for me. I personally feel the Lord's hand was in that one tender mercy. They still have a long way to go, but we have been able to set up a really solid appointment with them for the first time in well over a month. (We had an appointment with them last Tuesday, but it was not super solid and they ended up not being there. This one is a lot more solid.)
Love you all! Bye!
Elder Adams
Questions from Editor Mom:
Are all your shoes (brown, black boots, and tennis shoes) holding up? - Everything is holding up okay. The next shoes to die will probably be my brown ones. They've already got a couple of holds worn through the bottoms.
Are there people in The Dalles that you would like to visit again after your mission? - I'm not sure. They would mostly be members (the Coreys, Grows, and Mullins especially), but I wouldn't mind visiting Noe and Maria.
Are you still spending time every day studying Spanish? - Of course! Only Sundays and Mondays do we not have time for it.
Have you learned anything you didn't know before about the gospel in your readings or discussions with companions? - Well, I've already mentioned some things in the past, but it's really hard to pick out specific things. I've learned a lot more about the basics, for sure, and I think I understand the Atonement a tiny bit better than when I started, but it's really a bottomless well of understanding to draw on. I understand the conversion process a lot better, and I have recently begun wondering about the significance of having one's calling and election made sure. That seems to be a lot more important than I initially thought. I'm not sure, though; I have just seen it pop up in weird places a lot. I've mainly focused my studies on the basics, and I've learned a lot about those. One of many insights I've had in recent weeks is about the Priesthood and its organization. That was one of the few insights I had that partially came from the Book of Abraham. I know, I know. Honestly, I wasn't even studying it, but as I was thinking about the issue, a few scriptures from the Book of Abraham were brought to my mind. They now make a lot more sense to me. Basically, I noticed that in a lot of places in the scriptures, stars represent spirits. Lucifer drew 1/3 of the stars of heaven away, etc. That's one of the things that led to my insight on how the Priesthood might (and might not, but I'm pretty sure it does, and the Spirit seems to back me up) work. I'll leave it at that for now. Another thing I'm beginning to understand is life gives you about as much as you put into it. Basically, I understand the Law of the Harvest a lot better. You want more blessings? You need to work more for them. You can get decent rewards for trying a little, but your rewards will be a lot greater if you work/try that much more.
Are you feeling like you are getting a better grip on Book of Mormon stories? the history of the church? the bible? - Oh, most definitely! Especially with trying to memorize more scriptures from the Book of Mormon and the New Testament, I'm getting a lot more solid with my scriptural knowledge. When I want, I can bring up scriptures about a lot more topics than I could have before. I even discovered a pretty solid collection of scriptures, self-contained in the Bible, that pretty well show there must be a Spirit World before the resurrection, just based on Christ's death and resurrection. Our Heritage makes great reading material, too, which is a nice (though somewhat sparse) summary of the history of the Church. I've also developed a much greater appreciation for the Book of Mormon and its role since beginning my mission. Interestingly enough, I've also developed a firm conviction of the reality of the Great Apostasy. I think that tends to happen to missionaries. I still respect other churches, but I am beginning to see some of the things that the Apostasy did. It's awful.
Note: Next Monday's eclipse will be total in the southern part of Ben's area. It's the only bit of the Yakima Mission that will have totality.
Are you planning on watching the eclipse? (It's on a P-Day!) - I know! I have some glasses, too. We'll get a partial view here, but apparently Maupin is within the range of totality. That would be pretty sweet if we could find a way to get there.
Anything funny happen recently? - Mostly just my eyeballs. I have discovered I have developed allergies to... something. I don't know, but I'm getting hives on the insides of my eyelids. It's not pleasant, but antihistamine eyedrops and Benadryl help a ton. Not that funny, but definitely eventful.
Are you still doing karate to exercise? - Not a lot, no, but I still occasionally use it. Elder West adopted it as his morning routine, though. I want to see if we can't make some boffers to swordfight with for exercise. I'm trying to get creative here to keep myself active.
Did I tell you Peter encountered THE BEAR in our backyard? Scary! - Yeah, you mentioned! That's crazy!
Note: Lauren is Ben's first cello teacher and a family friend.
Lauren says to ask you what you think of her traveling with Molly and me. So, what do you think? (I told you this in a letter I just sent, but she has never been anywhere west, not even Pennsylvania. She's never seen such huge farms, where you can see forever and ever, for example). - I think that's a great idea! It will certainly be super different, and she may or may not get bored with the farms, but it would certainly be a cool experience. She might go stir crazy with the car, but it's a huge adventure. I think that if she wants an adventure, she'll get it. It's kind of like what I was saying earlier: you get out of it what you put in. Take, for example, my mission: it has hard parts, and it's not always completely cozy, but it's a huge adventure and an amazing experience. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
Love you! Also, say hi back to Molly for me :-)
Love,
Elder Adams
Questions from Editor Dad:
We'll see what we can do for sure. I'm not sure if it will work out, mainly because of the limited miles we can drive, but I sure want to try.
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