Elder Harrison Adams 12/27/16 Newport News, VA

Family and Friends,

Well to start off I hope Y'all had a Merry Christmas! Christmas is awesome for missionaries. Just because we get to focus so much of Jesus Christ, His birth, and ministry. Also we get to talk to our families so that's a plus as well!

Christmas Eve we ended up spending in several places. To start off we went and spent the first part of it with an Anglican monk, making gingerbread houses and what not. After we went and played basketball at the church for a little, and finally we went to a Hispanic party where we had lots of really good food! It's a bummer as a missionary that we had to get back to our house by 9, because in the Hispanic culture they stay up all night Christmas Eve and then open the presents at 12. 

We also had transfer calls. I'm leaving to go train in Greenville, North Carolina. My new address will be:

Elder Harrison Adams

2740 Meridian Dr, #7

Greenville, NC, 27834

(In case any of Y'all feel so moved as to write me a letter or two. haha) 

This was a really good week focusing on Jesus Christ and all. I had lots of time to reflect on what He did for all of us. Our past actions don't define who we are. And it doesn't matter who we are right now. What matter is that we have a Savior who came and suffered, bled, and died for us. And through his atonement, we can achieve our divine potential. Don't ever forget who you are! I love Y'all so much, have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Adams

Elder Harrison Adams 12/19/16 Newport News, VA

Family and friends,

This week was a super good week! I'm trying to think what happened but it's hard because this past week flew by. Let's see. We met a really nice family from Cuba this week. They've only been in the United States for about a month. They're looking for jobs and currently don't have a car, so they have to walk everywhere. They think Virginia is the coldest place in the world haha. But they're super nice and humble, and since they currently don't have steady jobs they are home quite a bit during the day. So we've been able to see them quite a bit. Cuban Spanish is quite a bit different than normal Spanish though, so we have to stay on our toes! 

We also got invited to go to a birthday party with one of our investigators. It was his sons birthday. We had a really good chocolate mole there, along with some ensalada de fruta and also a pineapple/coconut cake. I find it funny that for birthday parties, Hispanics always have the person bite the cake then someone else shoves their face into the cake. It ruins probably a quarter of the cake, but it's pretty fun! 

Let's see...with Christmas coming up we sure are excited! It's been great talking to people around this time of year, because they are a lot more open to talk about Jesus Christ. This time of year is so great with all of the time we have to focus on Him, and celebrate His birth.

I'm also grateful to be where I am for Christmas. The people here are so great. The only problem is that they all want us over for Christmas! So we're going to have to work some things out. But, Merry Christmas to y'all! I'm so grateful for Jesus Christ. And for this time we have to focus on him.

Love,

Elder Adams 

Newport News Spanish Branch Missionaries

Elder Harrison Adams 12/5/16 Newport News, VA

Family and Friends,

Well another week has gone by here in Newport News. This week we were able to eat a lot with the Hernandez family. Well, there are three Hernandez families here. The members, and then they have two siblings that also have their own families that are investigating. So, the investigating famines have had us over quite a bit this week to feed us. I've for sure enjoyed the food. 

As for the missionary work, we were able to find and teach Carlos this week. It was actually a miracle how we met him. So, a member called us and said that one of her friends was going to the hospital and he needed someone to translate for him. Well we went and translated for him, and then he invited us over to eat. So, we stopped by, and have taught him two times this past week. 

Things here are starting to get colder and everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit. I'm grateful for this time that we have to reflect of the birth of our Savior, and on His life. Without Him...we are nothing. I love my Savior, and I love Y'all. Have a fantastic week! 

-Elder Adams 

Elder Harrison Adams 11/28/16 Newport News, VA

Family and Friends,

Happy late Thanksgiving! I'm grateful for each and every one of you and hope y'all had a great week! For Thanksgiving we went and ate at our branch president's house with the other Spanish Elders. As much as I love Hispanic food, I was grateful to have a traditional Thanksgiving this year. 

I'm also grateful for exchanges and the chance to learn and grow from other missionaries. This week I went on exchanges with Elder Sena Segundo. He is from Brazil and he taught me lots about Brazilian customs, culture, and even gave me some Brazilian food! We also ate at the Hernandez house yesterday. Nothing crazy. Eggs, bacon, beans, and tortillas. But after a long day that was one of the best meals I'd had in a while! 

Going along with this theme of gratefulness, the Lord has given us many things to be grateful for. This week was a pretty hard week overall with quite a few disappointments. But, every time I was discouraged or disappointed the Lord always put a tender mercy in my day to cheer me up or to give me the strength to keep going. I'm grateful for this Gospel and I know that if we live obediently then we will receive blessings. On my mission I've seen it in my life and in the lives of other people as well. I love this Gospel and I love my Savior Jesus Christ. Sorry it's a little short this week, but I love Y'all! 

Elder Adams

Elder Adams and Elder Luque

Elder Adams and Elder Haslam from our stake who returned home 11/16/16

Elder Harrison Adams 11/21/16 Newport News, VA

Family and Friends,

Well hello! How are Y'all doing? So I'll talk a little about our week. We had to move to a new apartment that hadn't had missionaries in it for at least 8 months. So me and my new companion, Elder Claridge, get to the apartment and it was a pretty big mess! Lots of stuff lying around, no light bulbs worked, etc. Well to make it all the better, we go to use the bathroom and it got backed up for no reason. So we try to move some water from the toilet over to the shower so we can plunge it, but then we realized that our shower didn't drain! We started plunging our shower and this really gross brown water and lots of hair started coming up. After doing that for a while we finally called someone in and they were working on it the whole day and night. So we didn't have a toilet or shower for our first day in this new apartment. Luckily now we got everything squared away!

Oh also my new address is:

Elder Harrison Adams
456 F Cox Landing
Newport News, VA 23608

A little bit about my new companion. His name is Elder Claridge. He is from Mesa, Arizona. And we get along really well. He loves sports. Was a quarterback in high school, played soccer, and ran track. He also wants to be a nuclear physicist. Needless to say, we have a lot in common. Also, a fun fact about him, he knows literally everything there is to know about Star Wars! 

This week the Hernandez had a birthday party and they invited us over for food and cake. We had sopa de siete mares and it was the hottest thing I have eaten on my mission! All the Hispanics there were crying from how hot it was, so you can imagine how bad it was for a gringo like me! But it was super good. It had crab, scallops, clams, shrimp, and octopus in it. We also had some really good ceviche and pastel. 

As for this week, we've done a lot of knocking doors. Our area got shortened quite a bit and it's been hard to get people to teach. And most of the people we taught before were single woman or the husband was working during the day. Now that there are two of us we can only enter the house if there is a third male, which there rarely is during the day.

So the work has been pretty hard this week! Lots of walking. Lots of hard work. And sometimes that's what we need in life. What I've found on my mission, is that hard work can solve any problem. Whether it be a problem with a relationship, a financial problem, or a spiritual problem. If we put in our part and do all we can, then of course God is going to step in and help us out! He loves us, and would do anything to see us happy. So long as it is within His will and we do our part. I love being a missionary, and sharing the gospel. It's the best thing in the world! 

Love Y'all!

Elder Adams

Elder Harrison Adams 11/14/16 Newport News, VA

Family and Friends,

This week was a really good week! We got transfer calls this past Saturday and some weird things are going to be happening. Elder Luque is going to Greenville, Elder Armstrong is staying, and I'll be moving about 4 miles up the road to reopen Newport News C. So now instead of two companionships in the branch we will have three. I'm going to be getting Elder Claridge. Although my area is basically going to be the same, so lots of the people I've been working with I'll still be able to see! I'm grateful for that. 

This week, we put in lots of hard work. We focused especially on teaching by the Spirit and it's been amazing to see the difference. God truly knows each and everyone of us—our desires, our concerns, our needs. As we've taught with the Spirit, we've been able to answer their concerns, solve their problems, and promise them the blessings that they need. I love feeling the Spirit. There is nothing better than being an instrument in the hands of God. 

At church yesterday, I was able to see the Herrera family. They were here last year when I served in this area, and we became really good friends. They moved to Smithfield so normally they attend the ward there. But every now and then the make the journey up to visit the branch. We also had five of our investigators at church! Eva has now been for four weeks in a row, and we got the Hernandez family to come as well.

I love being a missionary! The church is true. Keep going. Keep trying. And never give up!

Love Y'all!

-Elder Adams 

Elder Harrison Adams 11/7/16 Newport News, VA

Family and Friends,

This week was a pretty good week. Looking back on it I can't really remember a whole lot about it. We got out and worked hard though so that was good!

Oh. Also Carlos got baptized this Saturday! It was an amazing experience. And yesterday he asked me to do the confirmation. That also was a really good experience!

Eva came to church again which was also great. She's been three weeks in a row now.

Transfers are coming to an end soon. It will be interesting to see what happens. I'm most likely to stay but we'll see! Alright. Y'All have a fantastic week! Remember, the church is true! 

Love,

Elder Adams 

Spanish Missionaries after the Mission Tour.

All but two have been Harrison's companions (two of them twice).

Elder Harrison Adams 11/1/16 Newport News, VA

Hellooooo family and friends! I have quite a few good stories this week so buckle down!

To start off. The Sister Training leaders who live in our same apartment complex have been pranking us quite a bit. So we decided we would get them back. So we all carved pumpkins, sent them on a scavenger hunt, and then at the end we threw pies in their faces and got thing with silly string. I'll include a few photos.

This week we also had our branch Halloween party. We've been getting a lot of hate from people recently that we celebrate Halloween. I've been surprised just how many people hate Halloween. But this past Thursday we had a party, and we got so many people to come. At the end I believe we had around 19 investigators at the party! It was mostly based around little kids, but everyone had a good time! 

One more story which I'm still a little bitter about. So we had just eaten at a potentials house, and we sat down to teach him a lesson. Well in the middle of the lesson it felt like I had a rock in my shoe that was digging into my toe. So I wiggled my toe a little bit, and the pain got a lot worse. At this point I jammed my toe against the side of my shoe to try and make it stop, and the pain got excruciating! So in the middle of the lesson I yanked off my shoe, looked down at my toe, and saw a needle sticking halfway into my toe! I don't know how. But one of Elder Armstrong's sewing needles somehow got into my shoe, and then later into my big toe. He says he doesn't know how it got in my shoe but I don't know if I believe him. If I go missing in the next few weeks, you know who to look for. 

Well I should probably talk about the food I ate this week. Since I seem to do it in almost every letter.  But I can't help it because the food here is so delicious! So a list of foods I ate this week. Sopes, camarones, carne asada, sopa de frijoles, pupusas, ceviche, flounder, ratones....I am in love with Hispanic food. It's the best thing ever! 

We also had a mission tour yesterday, which was why this email is coming out today. Elder Bennet came and talked to us all yesterday. And it was such a great experience. I wish Y'all could have been there to feel the spirit that was present. I know that he is a servant of God, just like I know the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are servants called of God. I love and support our church leaders.

Well that's it for this week! Y'all have a wonderful week and stay out of trouble! 

Pumpkins we carved. Left to right: Mine, Elder Armstrong's, Elder Luque's. 

Sisters after we got them. 

Halloween Party

You know you're in the right trailer park when you see this...

Elder Harrison Adams 10/24/16 Newport News, VA

Family and Friends,

This week was a good week! Although at the beginning of the week I got sick. And then Elder Armstrong caught what I had right as I was getting better. So we have had to spend a little extra time indoors which is the worst as a missionary. Back home if you were sick you could watch TV, or play a game on your phone, but as a missionary you have nothing to do other than sleep. Meanwhile your companions are bored out of their minds because they don't have anything to do either! So that was miserable. But, aside from the sickness, this week was pretty good! 

On Friday we went over to a less active members house and she showed us how to cook enchiladas and chilaquiles. Oh. I forgot! She also showed us how to cook pig head. So we ended up having enchiladas, chilaquiles, and pigs head tacos. Which were surprisingly good! Although I do not recommend watching it being cooked. Probably one of the grossest things I've seen! President Piggot and his wife also fed us this week. They just made us chicken and a salad. But Sister Piggot is one of the funniest people I know! She's from Columbia and so she speaks really clear, good Spanish. Whenever she sees us she always says "¡Hola Cabezones!" 

Another reason why this week was great was yesterday. We were finally able to have a normal meeting with just the branch! My first week here it got cancelled and the second we were combined with another ward. But finally we had a meeting with just us! There were only 40 people there, including us and little kids. And out of those 40, 5 of them were our investigators and 1 of them was an investigator of the sisters. It was great to see so many people that weren't members at church! The Hernandez family and Eva Munoz were our investigators at church. And everyone there was so nice to them and came and talked to them. They should be at church next week as well! Well, I sure am glad to me a missionary. I'm glad to be a representative of our Lord Jesus Christ. The church is true!

Alright, love Y'all!

We found some deer behind a trailer park so we had to take a photo.

I got bored while Elder Armstrong was sick, so I was doodling. 

Enchiladas and chilaquiles that we made.

Elder Harrison Adams 10/17/16 Newport News, VA

Family and Friends,

This week was a good week! To start off we ate lots of Hispanic foods and candies. We also learned how to make several dishes as well—pupusas, machaca, and some guacamole. I didn't realize how much I missed the food until I came back here to the branch. 

Another good thing that happened this week is that we were able to teach lots of people. Not only that, but these people are amazing. We have some investigators that have come to church five weeks in a row. And their kid was part of the primary program. He went up, sang, and even talked for a little bit. It's also been fun saying hi again to all of the members. 

Alright well that's all for this week. Y'all take care! 

Love,

Elder Adams 

Apartment missionaries in Nags Head

William and Patricia (Nags Head)

Elder Armstrong and Elder Luque in the kitchen

Making guacamole

Guacamole ready to eat

Elder Harrison Adams 10/10/16 Newport News, VA

Family and Friends,

This week has been full of some fun things! So for those of you who don't know I'm back in Virginia, where I started my mission. I'm companions with Elder Armstrong and Elder Luque. They're both great. 

I'm also back in the Spanish branch which I am excited for! At first I was a little bummed to be going back up to Virginia, but things aren't too bad. In fact, I love the food I've been getting recently. In North Carolina I didn't eat too much Hispanic food. Just lots of fried chicken. But this week I had some really good pozole and ceviche. The pozole was brown which was interesting. I've only ever had green and red pozole before. But it was pork based with some liver in it. Then yesterday an investigator had us over and fed us some really good ceviche. He also basically gave his daughter for me to marry but that's beside the point! 

The people here are amazing. We've had lots of success this week in teaching people who are genuinely interested in the Gospel. It's so nice to see and it's really fun teaching them! Sadly church was cancelled this week because of the hurricane so we weren't able to bring anyone to church, even though some people wanted to come! Bottom line is, the people here are amazing.

We also had a little bit of a storm! As in a hurricane. Even though it was pretty small we still got lots of rain and flooding. We had to stay inside Saturday and Sunday. Nothing too bad happened here. I've heard in Morehead and Nags Head they got it pretty bad. But here it wasn't anything too crazy. Lots of wind though. Tree branches were in the road and a few telephone poles/light posts blew over. Lots of people are still without power. But everyone is holding out here. 

Thanks for y'alls love and prayers! I love you!

Elder Adams 

(also in this photo is a Chile del Arbol. Me and Elder Luque lost a game and had to eat one. It was one of the hottest things I've ever eaten!) 

Chile arbol

Spanish branch missionaries.

Elder Harrison Adams 10/3/16 Nags Head, NC

Family and Friends,

This week has been a really amazing week, especially with General Conference. I was able to take so much from it and know that our leaders truly are God's servants. We had lots of chances for service this week which I personally love. 

We had transfer calls this week. I will be leaving Nags Head. I'm a little bit disappointing about that, because I wanted to stay a little bit longer here. But that's okay. I'll be going to Newport News, which is where I started my mission. And I'll be in a trio with Elder Armstrong and Elder Luque. Funny enough I was in Newport News this time last year. So my address will be the same. 

Elder Harrison Adams

148 yeardley drive

Newport News VA 23601.

I'm excited to be back in a Spanish Branch though. I hope y'all have a good week! Remember if you have a hard time, get on your knees! Love y'all.

Elder Harrison Adams 9/19/16 Nags Head, NC

Family and Friends,

Hello everyone! I hope y'all have had a good week. We had quite a few good meals this week. Lots and lots of seafood. Probably some of the best seafood that I've had in my life! Lots of it was caught the day before. Just a list of some of the food I've had this week: shrimp, dolphin (mahi mahi), cobia, flounder, trout, and lobster. 

Not too much other than that has really been going on. We have zone conference this next Thursday so we are excited for that. Hopefully y'all have a good week! Take care.

-Elder Adams

Elder Harrison Adams 9/12/16 Nags Head, NC

Harrison just sent pictures this week.

P-Day with other missionaries.

Elder Adams and Elder Martinez.

Cheering on the first flight.

At Wright Brothers Memorial

Elder Harrison Adams 9/5/16 Nags Head, NC

Family and Friends,

Hello! I made it through the storm here, even though things got a lot worse than they were supposed to. Initially they had just predicted rain and 40 MPH winds. But I guess when the storm hit the sound it gained some traction before heading out to the sea so a little bit up the road from us there was 70 MPH sustained wind and 80 MPH wind gusts. Saturday morning before things got really bad we decided to head out and see if we could go see anyone really quick, but no one really wanted to let us in because of the storm. Then on the way back our car was getting blown all over the highway from the wind, the stoplights weren't working because the power went down, and lots of the road signs had been blown over so we ended up missing quite a few turns! We went back home and spent the rest of the day inside our house and at the church across the street. Luckily nothing bad happened to us, although it was pretty scary watching all of the trees right outside our house getting blown around by the wind. We also lost power for about half the day. But no trees fell in or around our yard. Earlier today we spent most of our P-Day helping some people clear fallen trees and debris from their yards. Since the storm was stronger than everyone thought people weren't as prepared and it caused a lot of damage. The locals said it was the worst storm they've had at the beach in the past 8-9 years. 

Other than that this week was a pretty good week! We were able to have some of our investigators over at a member’s house. It's really cool to see members working with investigators and being their friends. It's one of the best things to see as a missionary, because it really does mean a lot to them. Without members, the investigators don't really have anything constant to hold on to. So it's good to see the ward doing such a good job fellow shipping our investigators. We also had to say goodbye this week to a good member. He comes here to work in the summers and now is returning to Peru for the winter. I'll include a photo below. 

Last thing, me and Elder Martinez found a really good local panaderia. They sell really good pan dulce so we've been going there several times these past few weeks after a long day. It's so good. Alright. Well that's all for now. I hope Y'all have a blessed week, and happy Labor Day! 

Love,

Elder Adams

Elder Harrison Adams 8/29/16 Nags Head, NC

Family and Friends,

This week has been a really great week! We have a new Elder in the house and he is probably the nicest person I have ever met! He's great. We also have a new district leader that is really outgoing and fun as well. So even though it was sad saying bye to a few Elders, it was also fun to welcome the others. Elder Martinez and I have been focusing this week on finding people and selecting the people who are ready and prepared to accept and listen to the gospel. So with that, we've done quite a bit of tracting and following up with former investigators. We were able to find a man called Ricardo (everyone calls him Rico), and he is super prepared for the gospel! It was fun and exciting to teach him. Although he does have work on Sundays, so that will be a little bit of a hurdle. 

Tourist season is starting to die down here. At the peak of the season we had 800+ people here for sacrament, so we had to have our services in the middle school. Normally we've been getting around 300 people but for the past week we've had just a little over 200. Everything around her is starting to die down. Which is sad but also really nice for the traffic. Lots of stores are getting ready to close soon, so in a little while just the big chain restaurants and stores will be open. 

Earlier this morning we were able to go to the Bodie Lighthouse. That was really cool to see, especially since I've been there before when I was little! We also went for a little hike in some sand dunes after. We hadn't planned to do that so we were in our proselyting clothes. Everyone was giving us weird looks haha. 

Just a quick story. A member gave a talk yesterday in church talking about when she went scuba diving. When they were in the boat, the waves were really choppy and the waves were really big. They jumped in the water and she started panicking. The waves were crushing her and she was struggling to descend. Then, she heard the captain yelling to grab a hold of a chain connected to a buoy, and use that to pull herself down. Once she was 15 feet beneath the water, the waves and currents above lost their hold of her and she was in a peaceful, safe environment. Even though we have trials and tribulations in our life, if we listen to our "Captain", He will guide us to safe waters. I know that's true. God sees the bigger picture even when we can't. I hope y'all have a good week, and be safe! 

Love,

Elder Adams

Harrison at Bodie Island Lighthouse on a family trip.

Harrison at Bodie Island Lighthouse as a missionary.

Bonner Bridge over Oregon Inlet in background.

We always cross this bridge on the way to the beach.

Outer Banks dunes.

We went to hear Harrison's trainer, Elder Berry, speak in sacrament meeting after returning home from his mission.