Week 26: In which David comes to church, Claudio is surprised, and we recognize Rosa

Another week in Othello

Hola, mi amada familia y asombrosos amigos! Aqui estoy, pero estoy triste que no tengo mucho tiempo para escribir esta semana. Estaba escribiendo el Presidente Lewis y tambien contestando preguntas de otras personas. Lo siento que esta carta sera corta, pero yo quiero escribir un poquito aun que no puedo escribir tanto.

[Hello, my beloved family and wonderful friends! Here I am, but I am sad that I don't have much time to write this week. I was writing to President Lewis and also answering questions from other people. I am sorry that this letter will be short, but I want to write a little, even though I can't write very much.]

This week has been super awesome! David came to church this last week, and is doing great! His biggest challenge is going to be that he works insane hours and it's going to be hard for him to keep going to church. Arnold is doing super well too, and we are going to go by him tomorrow to help him a bit more. We saw him yesterday. He has some hangups about the trinity and nature of God, but we'll be doing our best to help him out with those.

We also met some really cool new people in the last week. We were knocking on some doors earlier in the week, and we ran across Fransisco. Fransisco is super cool, and we plan to go back tonight! He seemed super open to the message we brought, and was really touched by some of the things we shared about the restoration of the gospel. He was very interested in looking into it, since he seemed to have grown a little disillusioned with his own and other religions.

We also met a cool guy named Claudio, who was shocked to learn that we weren't paid for our efforts. Over the course of our conversation, he really opened up. He expressed his own disillusionment with his own church for having very highly-paid clergy, and was very interested when we told him about the model of organization in our own church. He was also fascinated by the idea of the restoration. We have his phone number, and he wants to hear back at some point.

Below is an excerpt from my weekly email to President Lewis, edited a bit to be more suited for this medium:
As you know, we often work with a particular service group. Once, while there, I helped a lady who was very friendly and open. I normally wouldn't think twice about something so trivial as that, but later in the day we were walking back to the apartment when I noticed the same lady go into an apartment just across the street! I simply made a mental note of the event and my companion and I continued with our evening. A few days later, we were out knocking doors not far from our apartment. I mentioned the previous experience to my companion, and he and I agreed to go knock the doors in that area. As luck (if there is such a thing as luck) would have it, the first door we knocked was the very door the lady lived in! She introduced herself to us as Rosa. We ended up having a really awesome conversation with her, and she told us that missionaries had come by before but usually couldn't really teach anything because she was usually really busy taking care of her kids, but that she really wanted us to come back and go inside to teach her more! She also asked about the Daily Dose program (note: a free public service program run by the church to help people learn English), so we gave her the information for that. We have an appointment to return Thanksgiving Day.

In that short little episode, We were fortunate to see so many different finding and missionary elements come together and form a miracle. Service, tracting, former missionary visits, and Daily Dose! It was really something awesome to see, and we're super excited to see where Rosa will go in the future!

I love you all! Have a great Thanksgiving!

Love,

Elder Adams

Q&A from Editor Mom:

Hi! - Hi right back!

How are you? Are you still sick? - I'm doing super awesome, thanks! I am pretty much over my cold, and I feel fine now, but I still have a death cough. I pretty much figured out that it's caused by allergies which are basically only activated/aggravated when I get sick.

How was zone conference? - Zone Conference was the bomb.com! It was super awesome, and very inspiring. You should totally and very seriously check out the Christmas initiative this year; it's different, and very exciting. It's called #LIGHTtheWORLD.

How's Othello? - Othello is - pretty much, to put it lightly - the absolute best. It's pretty much just an awesome balance of everything. You probably didn't really have to deal with this on your mission, since you were in an almost exclusively Spanish-speaking area your entire mission. Here, we are often working in a bilingual area but only get to teach the people who prefer Spanish. However, in Othello, since we cover both languages in our area, whoever we talk to we get to teach! We don't even have to worry about making a division at all! I must admit, it's extremely refreshing. We still teach a lot of Spanish, of course. We just get to teach EVERYONE!!! It's so awesome!

How are your shoes holding up? - Thankfully, they are still holding up great. Those brown ones are extremely sturdy, and as I've been conserving my black-shoe use, everything is just peachy!

What new people have you met? - Big question. We met Claudio, Rosa, and Fransisco. Those are probably the three coolest. I can mention at least 1-2 later in my big email. (Probably all of them, though.)

How's the ward mission leader? - The Ward Mission Leader for the 2nd (English) Ward is really cool! He has some really clever and good ideas about mission work. He is pretty much on top of things, and I don't think we could survive without him sometimes. His name is Bro. Hahn. He's a really nice guy; he's a bit on the quieter side, but he's a really creative guy and very dedicated to his calling.

What day is your mission Christmas party? Where will it be? Is it mission-wide? - It's not quite mission-wide; it's only half the mission. The Zones going to our half of the party, which will be held in Quincy, will be: Othello, Moses Lake, Ephrata, Wenatchee, Omak. It's going to be on December 6th, in 2 weeks.

Will you be Skyping home on Christmas day? (I've heard of missionaries Skyping on Christmas Eve.) - Yes, it will be on Christmas Day. I will also have a 5-minute call on Christmas Eve simply to confirm the call on the following day.

Have you had snow yet? Are you staying warm? -  No snow yet, but I am definitely staying warm. I'm excited for the white wonder to begin falling!

Has anything funny or embarrassing happened to you? (We heard about the pollo from Elder Boren. :-) - Um, not here, not yet. You clearly already know about how "Mormon" is only a chicken. Not embarrassing or funny that happened to me per se, but also I noticed something funny in the missionary handbook. It keeps talking about "El fondo del apoyo misional", or the missionary support fund (MSF). However, I prefer to read it "El fondo del pollo misional", which sounds basically identical, and means "The fund of the missionary chicken". I've always wondered how we fund the missionary chicken, or where it is even kept.

Tip for laundry: If you are doing laundry at a laundromat, make sure the washers and dryers you use are clean. I've heard of people ruining all their shirts because, for example, the person who used the washer just before them dyed something red, and there is red dye residue left in the washer. Presto: pink shirts and underwear. I've heard of people ruining clothes because of gum left in a washer or dryer. Just beware of the pitfalls of laundromats. I've had clothes stolen from laundromats, too. Fun times. - Thankfully, I have not yet had to deal with a true laundromat. One of the three companionships of Elders that lives here in Othello (we're all about a block from each other) has a washer/dryer, so we've all just split it up so we each individually get a day. They've become the Othello Elder Laundromat. Thanks for the tips, though!

What are you doing for Thanksgiving?  Any plans? I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving wherever you end up!

Oh, we've got dinner(s) lined up. Don't worry. We're going to have an awesome Thanksgiving!

We can't tract at all that day, President says, but we were contemplating using some of the time to bake some cookies to show our gratitude for members and others. We also have a cool return appointment set up with Rosa, who I mentioned before...

By the way, I already mentioned #LIGHTtheWORLD - it's really, really cool.You and Dad should both get involved in that; it's a great opportunity. It kicks off the day after Thanksgiving (this Friday), where there will be an AWESOME video (I know because I'm a missionary so I got to see it early ;-P). There's already a teaser for it (I also saw that). You may have already heard about this through the ward, since it's pretty big. However, the video is only a small part of it. To kick of the whole thing, December 1st is a "Worldwide Day of Service". After that, there's even a super awesome calendar (which you can probably already find somewhere online, maybe mormon.org) for December. It's basically an advent calendar. So, this new initiative is all about how we can all (not just Mormons) give good Christian service and try to be more like Christ as part of this special, miracle-filled season. The video shows Christ doing certain things, for example, feeding the poor, and then a modern-day example of people doing the same thing. It's super exciting! There's then an advent calendar leading up to Christmas where each day has a different focus. For example, December 2nd might be "give sight to the blind" (like donating eyeglasses) and December 3rd might be "heal the sick" (like donating blood). I don't have the calendar right now, but it's so exciting! You'd better get pumped, and you can also invite anyone to participate as well! It's really quite brilliant, and a great way to introduce the gospel and our beliefs as well. So, get psyched! 

Bonus #1:  Sister Lewis, the Mission President's wife, has been asking every missionary what they are thankful for, and posting the answers on her blog.  She asked Ben this a couple of weeks ago, pre-transfer.  Here is his answer:

I’m super thankful for the awesome people here in Wenatchee.
I’m grateful for awesome leaders in the WYM.
I’m grateful I get to speak Spanish here and eat Mexican Food! It’s way too delicious.  

Bonus #2: Ben's P-Day was a day late this week to make room for Zone Conference on Monday.  Here are a couple of pictures, and a video, which Sister Lewis took at the Zone Conference and posted on her blog.

 

 

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.

Week 24: In which I reconnect with Kenia, meet Jessie & Rafael, and pack for Othello!

Onward, ever onward!

!Hola, mis amados amigos y familia! Estoy animado para comunicar con ustedes hoy. Inserio, siento que las semanas realmente son dias. El tiempo que uno tiene en su mision is tan, tan corto. Entonces, quiero hacer mi mejor para ayudar a los demas cuando tengo el tiempo para hacerlo! Les doy gracias por sus oraciones y apollo.

 

Hello, my beloved friends and family! I am excited to communicate with you today. Seriously, I feel like the weeks are really days. The time one has on their mission is so, so short. So, I want to do my best to help others while I have the time to do it! I give you all thanks for your prayers and support.

Ah, I love new beginnings! That's really what the Gospel of Christ is about, isn't it? It's all about change and starting something new and amazing. Of course, as humans, we never really like some aspects of change. We leave behind things, places, or people we love and care about. We leave behind our habits and our desires. We leave behind a lot! It's a wonder we can ever find the strength to begin or change in the first place. However, once we find that strength, we find that we can begin anew with wonderful new people, experiences, places, things, habits, and desires! In the end, we find we never lost anything in the first place. We just gain more memories and are filled with more love.

So, you are all probably getting anxious who know what is coming up on this Wednesday. It's transfer time! It's always an interesting time for all of us. It's a time of change: sometimes we change companions, sometimes we change areas, sometimes we only change the other missionaries around whom we serve, and sometimes we change everything! So, having started with that, I've just built up a lot of anticipation to know what is going to happen. I'm just going to make you wait, heh heh heh. No spoilers! And you aren't allowed to skip! You have to read it all through! You are allowed to guess, though. I won't ruin all your fun.

So, this has been a very interesting week. Analy said she's too busy to talk, which is really sad, but we came across two more awesome people! One of them is Jessie, and she's super awesome. She told us she is trying to figure out what church, if any, is the same one Christ established. In other words, she just wants to find the truth. She has a very strong desire to learn and study as much as she can to find out, and was very intrigued by how Joseph Smith was asking the same question. She has a lot of questions.

The other person is Rafael, who I think I may have mentioned earlier. Anyway, he read in the Book of Mormon, and even marked some parts he had questions about so he could ask us! It was awesome! We just sat down and tried to answer his questions as best as we could, and he ended up deciding that the Book of Mormon needed to be a subject of much more serious study. He wants to read it with the Bible, find questions, and have them answered. He is, like Jessie, determined to do whatever it takes to find the truth.

Finally, I saved the most special story for last. This was a very emotional moment for me. You may remember about Kenia, who Elder Wunderlich and I taught nearly 4 months ago. We saw many miracles to help bring her closer, and she did indeed come a very long way. However, you may also remember that Elder Aguirre and I tried to contact her for a long time with no success. She was the subject of many long and heartfelt prayers of mine during that time. I prayed simply that she would be given another chance. I knew that she would, but I also strongly felt that her other chance would come as she was taught by another missionary. It wasn't going to be me; I had already done my part and had my chance to help teach her.

Well, in the time of the Lord, my many prayers have finally been answered. As Elder Boren and I prepared to go back to the apartment one evening to plan and prepare for the next day, we happened to be standing on the same corner as her house. To my shock and surprise, I saw a familiar red truck pull up and park in front of her house. No way! It couldn't be! Could this be the second chance I had been praying for? As Kenia got out, she started walking towards us. I did my best to keep my mouth from dropping open. We then just said hi for a minute, and she told us her life had gotten crazy and that was why it was so hard to find her. She told us a day and a time we could come back and talk more, and then we said goodbye and she walked away.

I was stunned. I went back that night and prayed in great gratitude. It was a very emotional moment. However, I knew that my time in Wenatchee was at a close. Even though I am a different missionary and a different person than I was before, I knew that it was not to be me.

I then received a call Saturday telling me that I am going to be leaving Wenatchee. I will be going to Othello, in the Othello Zone, to both the 2nd and 4th wards. That means I will be doing missionary work for everyone there, both English and Spanish, with my new companion, Elder Steadman. I have heard great things about Othello! Elder Call, who is leaving today, used to serve in that area. He was very excited to hear where I was going, and told me his time in Othello was by far the happiest three transfers of his mission. I am very sad to leave Wenatchee, but I am equally excited for this amazing new opportunity! I know it's where I need to be.

Well, I'm out of time. I guess it's time to stop talking and get to work!

I love you all so much,

Elder Adams

 

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Questions from Editor Mom:

 

Of course, we want to know how transfers will affect you and the others in your apartment, but you already knew this. - Um, yeah. Sorry, spoilers. One thing you can know, though, is Elder Call goes home today. He finished his two years already. What?!? I know.

I've read of missionaries decorating their planners. Do you decorate yours? If so, what do you use to decorate it? - I occasionally do, and I use different things. I'll see if I can send you a picture of my most recent one.

Have you been able to play the cello? Scales? When I can find time (which is rarely), I usually do practice scales, yes. The other Elders don't get why, but that doesn't matter. I know why, and I know it will improve my ability to bring the spirit when I play here.

Have you had any apartment inspections? If so, how did you fair? -  Not yet. The next one is, I think, this next Friday. It's really soon.

Have you been able to return the cello?  - I have indeed returned the cello. It's all taken care of.

How's the weather? Has it snowed? Rained a lot? - Weather is cool! It hasn't snowed, but it has rained an unusual amount this last transfer. It's not normal in this area, even this time of year from what I hear.

Are you keeping good records of your investigators for the next elders that are in your area? - We do our best. We don't really track areas we've tracted out, as that's mostly passed down orally. Same with contacts, but we do sometimes write down a little unofficial list to help future missionaries out. 

?Que tal el espanol? [How's Spanish?] - !Es excellente! Estoy muy contento con mi abilidad a hablar, pero obviamente tengo que mejorar. Usted puede ver eso, probabamente. Constantamente estoy aprendiendo mas cosas y palabras. He aprendido muy, muy rapidamente, especialmente por mie tiempo aqui. Muchas personas me dicen eso. It's excellent! I am really content with my ability to speak, but obviously, I need to improve. You can probably see that. I am constantly learning more things and words. I have learned, very, very quickly, especially for my time here. Many people tell me that.

Do most people in your area live in acceptable conditions? - Pretty much. It depends, I suppose, on your definition of acceptable, but there are not really any places quite like, for example, the townships in SA. People occasionally live in corrogated metal trailers, which is even more common in other areas, but our area is pretty much in the heart of the city. Conditions are usually at least acceptable, by my reckoning. Not that there isn't room for a lot of improvement, of course.

Do you have a Latino grocery store in your area? Or any other cultural indications that there are many Latinos in the area? - Oh, yes. We have 2 little Mercaditos grocery stores. It's super awesome! We also have some really, really good taco trucks. I love, love, love, love, love horchata. I can't get enough of it. Plenty of little Taquerias, too. Elder Call got a sombrero at another place in the mission, Othello. He served there a while back, in the Spanish-speaking 4th ward.

Where are the people you meet who are not first generation Americans from? Mostly Mexico? Other countries like Guatemala, Colombia, etc.? - The vast majority of people here are from Mexico, and a large portion of the Mexicans are from the state of Michocan. Also Nyarid (or however the heck you spell that place. No idea.)

Any thoughts of composing a mission song to submit to the Lewises? - Not really, not yet. Perhaps later.

PLEASE SEND PICTURES. :-) LOTS OF PICTURES.- I know, I know! I keep forgetting my camera when I email. Also, last week we emailed from the library. But that's not really an excuse, because I still forgot my camera.

Have you gone on any more hikes or done anything else for fun on your P-Days? - Um, not really. This transfer was Halloween, which was weird, and also the Temple Trip, which was weird, and a bunch of other abnormal days.

Have you gotten a flu shot? - Nope. I still have no idea; I forgot to ask. Uh, sorry about that. Bad memory sometimes. These weeks fly like nothing else. Time just runs by like really bad diarrhea. Okay, maybe not the best simile, but it'll do.

 

 

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A brief story about Ben from his companion's blog:

 

Questions from my brother Riley  

 

What is your most embarrassing experience and funniest?

Off the top of my head I can't think of any embarrassing experiences. I'll have to think of some and get back with a story next week. I think the funniest ones are when we say the wrong word in Spanish. We all get to have a laugh and it lightens up the mood. One example is as we were talking to some people they asked if we were the Mormons and Elder Adams said that that was just a pollo (A chicken) when he was meaning  to say apodo (Nickname).

 

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Here is my stylishly decorated missionary planner:

 

 

A few photos of us digging underneath Bob's house:

 

 

 A few more pictures without labels:

 

And a movie of me staring briefly at the camera:

A few pictures of Ben from Elder Boren's blog: