Elder Harrison Adams 3/27/17 Greenville, NC

Family and Friends,

This week was great! Just a quick update on transfers, I will be staying here in Greenville again. Elder Barboza will be going to Morehead City and Elder Mickelson is coming to be my companion. Funny thing, I was companions with Elder Mickelson in the MTC and then for a little bit when I served in Morehead City. So, this will be our third time being together. It should be fun!

This week was a little slow. Lots of appointments fell through or were cancelled. However, the appointments we did teach were all really great. We taught a lesson on the Book of Mormon and it was one of the better lessons I've been in my entire mission. I was on exchanges with Elder Prue who didn't speak Spanish, so it was kind of fun. They would ask him a question but I had to tell them that he didn't speak Spanish.

Recently I've been doing a study on chapter ten of Preach my Gospel. This chapter is all about developing teaching skills. I've been able to apply lots of things into my teaching and have been able to see many improvements. I love Preach my Gospel and know that it is an inspired resource we can use, not just as missionaries, but as members of the Church.

Side note that I forgot, we found a really good taco truck this week! The have really good tacos al pastor and also have great carne asada as well. I'll put some photos in below.

Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Adams

The tacos

Really good burger I had this week

Elder Harrison Adams 3/20/17 Greenville, NC

Family and Friends,

I feel like I say this every week, but we had another really good week here! It's been great to work hard and to see lots of success as well!

We were able to go to a small town a little outside of Greenville called Washington. It's a really pretty town. I'll include some photos. We had a few former investigators to stop by, and we were just making our way around visiting them. Well, we then drove by a dirt road, but felt like we needed to stop and go back. So we get to this dirt road, and go down it. Turns out there was a trailer park hiding behind all the trees! So we go in and we both are instantly attracted to this bright yellow house. We knocked on it several times, but nobody answered. But as we were walking away a Colombian lady stuck her head out the window and started talking to us. She told us to come back the next day, so we did. Well, turns out that this cute little family took missionary discussions about 6 years ago. Spanish missionaries were taken out of the area, and so they weren't able to continue learning. And since they lived in a different area then at that time, we had no teaching record of them or knew that they existed. But, we're teaching them again and they are excited to start coming back to church (they had been several times before).

Another neat experience we had was this past Sunday. We were getting ready to go into ward council when I felt the impression that we needed to stop by a certain family and invite them to church. I wanted to brush off the feeling, because we had invited them the previous night and they said they were for sure going to come, but we decided to go either way and miss ward council. We got to their house and knocked on the door. They answered, and clearly had just woken up when we knocked on their door. Turns out their house lost power the night before so their alarm clock never went off! But, because we stopped by, we were able to see them all at church. They were all so happy to be there, and had a great time.

I'm so grateful for the direction and guidance of the Holy Ghost. In Elder's Quorum we had a lesson on the Holy Ghost, and it seems that our week was packed full of experiences relating to the Holy Ghost. I'm grateful for this gift that God has given us. One of the greatest gifts we can receive here in mortality. I'm also grateful for the role of the Holy Ghost. To testify of righteousness, truth, and to give us revelation and warnings! It doesn't matter if we feel lost sometimes in life, because we have a never-failing compass. I'm so grateful for the Holy Ghost, for our Lord Jesus Christ, and for our loving Heavenly Father.

Love,

Elder Adams

(Washington, or Little Washington depending on how you want to say it!)

Elder Harrison Adams 3/13/17 Greenville, NC

Hello Y'all!

This week was a little interesting! Yesterday morning we woke up with a little bit of snow on the ground and snow falling from the sky. That was a little strange because earlier in the week the weather was in the mid 70's. After an hour it was all gone, but since then it's been a little colder. Supposedly we're also supposed to get a little bit of snow this Wednesday.

Teaching this week was a little tough. Not lots of people were home, and when we did go tracting not a whole lot of people were willing to listen to us. Although those times are hard, I'm grateful for those hard moments. Without the bitter, we wouldn't know sweet. Without being rejected, we wouldn't fully appreciate the joys of teaching someone. Without pain, hardship, and strife, we wouldn't be able to appreciate or enjoy this wonderful life and world that has been created for us.

This Sunday we taught Elders Quorum again, and the subject was on prayer. I sure am grateful for prayer! Without it, I would be so lost. It's so comforting to know that whenever I want, I can commune with God. I don't have to wait. I don't have to hope he picks up the phone. Or text and wait for a response. He will listen to me. I also know that prayers are answered. Maybe not in the way we expect, or in our time, but God does answer prayers.

Y'all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Adams

Elder Harrison Adams 3/6/17 Greenville, NC

Hello Y'all!

So this week was a little bit of a tough one, it seemed for a while that nothing was going our way. And of course that's frustrating, especially when you are working as hard as you can and it seems that nothing is happening. However, even though we had lots of hard times, we also saw lots of tender mercies and blessings. I've felt the Spirit so strong throughout this week and have had many prayers answered.

Speaking of prayer, last night I had lots of time to reflect on that subject. I'm sure there are times in our lives when we feel that we are not worthy to pray or that our prayers go unanswered. Maybe sometimes we feel that no one is listening, or that our prayers come and go with no avail. I was feeling a mixture of these concerns this week. But when I was feeling this way, a scripture came to my mind.

2 Nephi 32:8 says:

"And now, my beloved brethren, I perceive that ye ponder still in your hearts; and it grieveth me that I must speak concerning this thing. For if ye would hearken unto the Spirit which teacheth a man to pray, ye would know that ye must pray; for the evil spirit teacheth not a man to pray, but teacheth him that he must not pray.

But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul."

I realized that God always wants us to pray. No matter how bad things are, or how hard it can be sometimes, the Spirit tells us that we need to pray. I know that's true, and I know that prayer is a powerful tool that we have. It's blessed my life so much. And I've seen so many miracles come from the power of prayer. So, next time you're feeling discouraged or broken, remember. The Spirit teaches us to pray. And prayer can solve any problem. I love Y'all so much and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Adams

Elder Harrison Adams 2/27/17 Greenville, NC

Family and Friends,

This week was fantastic! One of the highlights was the Hispanic family home evening we had at a member’s house! We had a dish from El Salvador, and also a really good dessert. I don't know exactly what the sandwiches we had were called, everyone just called them "tortas de pollo" even though that wasn't the actual name. For dessert we had "pastel de piña volteado." I'll include some photos below. We also had a really good message about pleasing God, and what we can do to make Him happy.

During church the translating equipment wasn't working so that was a little frustrating. In the second hour me and Elder Barboza taught the Spanish class, just focusing and highlighting a few points of the Restoration and the First Vision. I'm so grateful for this restoration. I'm grateful we will in a time where we have all the blessings of the Gospel available. I'm especially grateful that I can be with my family forever.

This week we also were able to find some new people, and teach some really good lessons! One of our investigating families had us over for dinner. We had meatballs with rice and tortillas. Not quite your typical meatball dish!

We taught them about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and highlighted a few points. Especially repentance and baptism. I'm so grateful that we have the opportunity to repent. God is a God of mercy, and a God of love. If we just turn to him, with a broken heart and contrite spirit, we will be made whole. There's no sorrow that heaven cannot heal. 

I hope Y'all have a good week, and be safe!

Love,

Elder Adams

 

Elder Harrison Adams 2/20/17 Greenville, NC

Family and Friends,

This week we had lots of amazing things happen! One of the best things is that we finally got an investigator to church, Jorge. He and his wife both came. His wife is a member, she joined in Mexico, but hasn't been able to find the church the past 8 years that she's been living in the United States. Well, we ran into her, and she was so excited to see Elders and to figure out where the church was at!

We also were able to give several Priesthood blessings, and bless a house. I love the Priesthood and the power that comes with it. I've seen so many miracles come through the power of the Priesthood and am so grateful that we live in a time where we have blessings like this available! I'm also so grateful for the blessings of the temple. It's been really hard for me to go my mission without getting to go inside the temple, and I'm so looking forward to going again.

That's all for today! I hope y'all take care and have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Adams

Harrison says there are many homes of hispanics that have very low ceilings

and he is in constant need of ducking.

Elder Harrison Adams 2/13/17 Greenville, NC

Family and Friends,

Hello Y'all! This week was an excellent week. We weren't able to meet with our main investigator, as she was sick, but we did get to see lots of other good things happen this week. 

On Saturday we had one of the Hispanic youth kids come out with us for a little bit, and we were able to teach a lesson or two with him. He's fantastic! We also were able to become really good friends with one of the less actives in our area, and even got him as well to come out and teach a lesson with us! And after a little bit of time, we were able to catch up with a part member family and share a good message with them about the Plan of Salvation.

Kind of focusing on that point, the Plan of Salvation, I've been so blessed on my mission to be able to better understand and see the blessings of God's plan. Yesterday I was asked to teach Elder's Quorum and the topic of the lesson was Optimism. I'm so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for the happiness and blessings that it affords us. Not only in this life, but in the life after as well! Sometimes it can be hard to maintain that optimistic opinion, but if you take some time and think about it, we have every reason to be optimistic! I know that if we are having struggles in our life, that we can sit back and count the many blessings that God has given us. We can press forward with enthusiasm, and love! 

I know that this Gospel is true, and that it is a Gospel of happiness. With that, I hope y'all have a fantastic week!

Love,

Elder Adams