Monday, November 9, 2015

Elder Harrison Adams 11-9-15 Newport News, VA

Hello y’all, this week has been really eventful!

So to start off, we finally got to meet a family that we've been trying to meet for basically my whole time here. Their names are Angel and Judith. Angel is a member, less active, and Judith isn't a member. But it's interesting to see how the Lord works in their lives. So they had been wanting to go back to church, at least Angel did, but he didn't feel comfortable because he didn't know anyone, and didn't know the missionaries. (Little did he know we'd been trying to contact him for weeks.) But, actually the morning of the day we went to see him, he got a call from the sister missionaries that converted him. He expressed how he had wanted to meet with other missionaries again, but he didn't know how to get in contact with us. Well, that night I'm sure he was surprised to see us knocking on his door! But we had a super great lesson with them, and we actually have another appointment with them tonight and they're going to feed us dinner.

Also we have dinner planned this Thursday with the Florez family, and I'm worried because supposedly every meal they feed you mealworms. And all of the other missionaries say that they're horrible. One of them told a story how after he ate it he ran into their bathroom and started throwing up. Wish me luck!

I also feel that my Spanish has taken some really big steps this week. I finally learned how to roll my R's, and I can talk to anyone about pretty much anything. (Anyone minus Cubans that is, I'm still working on understanding them.)

Another weird thing about this week, I'm now in a trio! It's honestly super fun and I love it. But I guess I should tell y’all how that came about! So this Thursday, me and my companion, Elder Berry, were knocking doors, and we got a call from the President of our mission (which usually is never a good thing, so we were both a little worried). Any who, he told us that one of the Spanish Elders in our zone had to go home for medical reasons, and that Elder Martinez would now be staying with us for an "Extended period of time." We think he'll probably be with us the rest of the transfer. So we had him move into our apartment. For the first few nights we took turns sleeping on the floor, because we were short one bed. We also only have one shower, so it's hard in the morning after we exercise to find time to shower. But luckily the zone leaders had a cot, so now we each have our own beds. But I love Elder Martinez. He was originally born in Guatemala, and moved here when he was three. He was raised in Idaho, so that's where he learned English. (He has a super funny western accent thing going). And also, he is REALLY short. As is common for most people from Guatemala.

Umm. I'm trying to think what else happened this week but I'm struggling because it honestly feels like I wrote y’all yesterday. Time flies by so fast. Oh. This might be some good information to know (mostly for my family and Hannah). So next week a member of the Seventy is coming and he's going to have a meeting with us all next Monday. So our P-day next week will be on Tuesday instead of Monday, I just don't want y’all to freak out when an email doesn't come, haha. And this Sunday, because he speaks Spanish, he is doing a special meeting with just all of the Spanish branches. So we will get to go to that as well.

Oh, I remember another story I wanted to share. This is something that a less active we are teaching said, and I just loved what he said. He said "Tenemos la Santa Cena cada semana, pero no porque somos perfectos personas. Tenemos la Santa Cena cada semana porque somos perfectos pecadores." (Translation: We have the sacrament not because we are prefect people, we have the sacrament because we’re perfect sinners.)  I just love that. God knew that we were going to make mistakes, every week, and every day. And we have the chance to take the Sacrament every week to make up for our shortcomings.

One more thing I'd like to mention is just how loving all of the Hispanic people here are. I remember someone telling me in the CCM (MTC). They had a friend that served in the same mission, Spanish speaking, and they said "Serving in that mission, my feelings towards illegal immigrants totally changed." Which I understand why. These people are they nicest, most generous people I have ever met in my life.

One family especially caught my attention this week. The Herrera family are fairly recent converts. They're been in the church for about a year now. But beforehand they were investigating the church for over 15 years. Well they are some of the most spiritual people I know now. They don't have a lot, they live in a small beat up house and are just barely scraping along. Which was why me and my companion were surprised when we passed by their house and saw a van. It was an old van, pretty mangled. So we went and talked to them, and they had sold a bunch of valuable, sentimental things they had in order to buy the van. We then asked why they needed the van, and the only reason they bought it, is so that they can drive investigators we find to church. And they can't really afford to drive that van any other time because they don't have money to pay for gas really. I mean, the dad, Ramon, bikes to work every day. They don't have enough money to buy a car....but they sold some things so they could. And the only reason they did that was so they could drive investigators and their friends to church. Thinking about them almost brings tears to my eyes, that's how much I've grown to love them these short few weeks I've had here.

Other than that, this week has been pretty uneventful. Hard, we got dropped by a few people, as always doors slammed in our face, and walking down the road people roll down their windows and curse at us. At first that was hard for me. But I've realized now all the good in people as well. We'll talk to someone on the street and just talking to that one person will give me enough happiness to last the week. People here are truly amazing. I see miracles of kindness every day. So with all the good and the bad. I'd say, there is a lot more good in this world. Without a doubt.

I love being a missionary, and my testimony has grown so much. Especially about the atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ. Literally everything is possible through him. One attitude people here have that I've kind of adopted, that everything is because of God. The leaves move in the trees, because of God. The birds sing in the morning, because of God. Everyone has so much faith, and everything they see in front of them, they know it's from God. I love my God. I love my Savior. I love my family, my friends, and I love the people here. The church is true. I know without a doubt. I love being a missionary.


Love, Elder Adams


Me, Elder Berry, and Elder Martinez

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