April 15, 2019 - Rose Park Zone, SLC, UT

(Sorry I didn't get an email out last week. The long story is that I had typed up a nice long email recapping the prior week and a half, but when I went to add the pictures after the temple trip, my draft did not get saved because there was no wifi to send it, and I hit send. That was about 5:45, so I just sent you the text instead of retyping. But today here's a good one.)

2 weeks have gone by, and lots has happened! 

Every Tuesday this month we have had some kind of meeting or something big that takes up most of the day. These last two Tuesdays were a mission leadership council, and a mission leadership training. They were very nice, the spiritual uplift was incredible, to be able to talk about the mission, missionaries, and how we can help them develop and become, as President Nelson said "the best version of themselves". 

All the time in between meetings and more meetings each Friday was filled with WORK! The times you are the happiest on your mission is when you are putting sweat and tears and a little blood into finding people to teach the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ to! So that's what we did! 

Some cool experiences the week leading up to conference:

Tuesday we went to a missionary correlation meeting in the Tongan ward. When we got there, we had 2 of the missionary council members tell us that they had set up appointments that night with some nonmembers. We already had a lesson scheduled, so that made 3 at the same time! We split up, I went with the ward mission leader up to the farthest appointment, and we taught about the plan of Salvation. The Spirit was so strong, the guy we were teaching said that he wanted to change some certain things in his life and get baptized! Elder Saltzman reported that he went out with a returning member, and they taught one sister who said she knows she needs to be baptized, and the coolest part was that the returning member bore his testimony, even though he hasn't been active in a long time. The third appointment was someone we already knew, but he also said that he knew he needed to be baptized. With all 3 individuals, we were able to teach and testify that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, they can overcome the individual barriers holding them back from making this first covenant with the Savior through baptism. It was a miraculous night! 

Friday we went tracting in an apartment complex, and met a guy who had moved from the east coast that day! We were able to share a Becauseof Him video, and it was amazing to see him feel the Spirit and open up to the message we shared. He wants to meet up more! 

Then came conference weekend! Saturday, for the morning and priesthood sessions, everyone we wanted to bring with us cancelled last minute. For priesthood we subbed in a member we work with a lot. Sunday morning we went with Carlos, who is awesome! He loved it! Then, since we live only a few minutes walk from the conference center, we walked to and from each session. Walking home after Sunday morning, a couple stopped us and gave us tickets for the afternoon session. That was so cool! In total, we went to 4 of the 5 sessions live! 

And then this past week! Wow it was amazing! We had some pretty fun times helping some missionaries in the zone with a variety of things. Then we spent a lot of the week just working! We tracted for lots of hours, and talked to so many people! It was neat to share what God's prophet has most recently said! Then Friday was Elder Saltzman's birthday. And, Carlos got baptized! It was such an awesome service! On Sunday Carlos received the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the Aaronic Priesthood! We are going to the temple soon to do baptisms! Then we got to hear a devotional from Elder L Todd Budge of the Seventy! He is great! It was a good day! 

I'm loving this work! 

I love you so much family! I bought some candy and plastic eggs to give out for Easter! No sugar for me! -Elder Adams 

April 10, 2019 - Rose Park Zone, SLC, UT

Hey Mom! We are just getting out of the temple, and we had a very busy morning, plus my emails aren't sending, I'm not able to get wifi. So I'll send some pictures here, and I'll have to email better, and even call, on Monday. But I am doing super well! I am very happy right now, serving as hard as ever! Love you!

April 1, 2019 - Rose Park Zone, SLC, UT

This week has been excellent! Here is a run through!

Tuesday we drove around bikes for a long time, and then had an awesome evening doing visits with one of our wards. We found someone new to teach, and taught an awesome lesson!

Wednesday we had to drive for another few hours finishing the bikes. That evening we went out finding with some elders, it was great to work with them. The elder I was with and I got offered to come and eat some free KFC at 11pm. This was at 8:30. We kindly declined.

Thursday we went on exchanges with our district leader. It was great. 

Friday we finished the exchange, and then we had an awesome dinner, which is one of the pictures below. Then we had an amazing lesson with Carlos, he is so solid! Saturday we had some good lessons, and a great lunch. We were able to spend a few hours finding, and it was so successful! 

Sunday was great. Elder Wakolo of the seventy was at one of wards, and I got a hug from him.
We also had the most amount of people at church than we have ever had together. That was a miracle! We also got to meet some pretty incredible people including a guy named Dusty Smith and another guy named Harris Simmons. Some fun times.

This week we had some really great opportunities to find new people to teach. We had one lesson where the guy we taught found so much joy in the gospel he invited his brother to the next lesson and his sister to church. I know that the joy of the gospel truly changes us and our behavior. I know that the Atonement of Jesus Christ can change anyone and help anyone overcome anything.

I am so excited for General Conference. We get to go to a few sessions! Priesthood session, Sunday morning session, and Saturday morning session. I am excited to hear what the prophet and apostles have to share with us from the Lord. I am also excited for the people we are teaching to hear from the Lord’s prophet on earth today, and to feel the incredible spirit at conference. On Sunday when we met Elder Wakolo one thing said to us was, "When the seventy and other auxiliary speak, really listen. When the apostles speak, really, really listen. And when the prophet speaks, really, really, really listen."

Love, Elder Adams 

March 25, 2019 - Rose Park Zone, SLC, UT

This week has been great! We have seen so many miracles!

This last week was transfers, so Tuesday was a hectic day of getting missionaries situated. We had one apartment that some Elders had been living in for years, but now sisters are moving in. We spent 5 hours cleaning the apartment to make it more livable for sisters. It was pretty fun. I am grateful that you always taught me to keep myself clean, and how to clean. 

Wednesday was full of fun missionary work. We spent a few hours biking around one of our wards, tracting random buildings, and serving everyone we could. It was awesome. We had a lesson with someone new, and at the end of the lesson, the guy said he thinks he wants to join this church! It was a miracle! We had another lesson that night, with Carlos, and he decided he wants his siblings to receive the gospel as well. Thursday was full of finding, with no immediate result, but we are keeping up the pace. 

Friday we had some awesome meetings, then we had another lesson with Carlos, and he brought his brother with him! Carlos is excited to get baptized in just a few weeks. We then had an awesome lesson with a girl we have been trying to meet with for a while, and we had some ward members come with us. It turned out great, and she made some great friends in the ward. Saturday was a blast. We contacted every single person we are teaching, every person we are trying to teach, and every one that had been referred to us, and invited them all to stake conference. Then in the evening, we had the first session of stake conference. It was super great! Elder L. Todd Budge of the Seventy spoke, and he was great! 

Sunday was full of meetings. Stake conference in the morning, learned a lot, a correlation, a lunch, meeting up with some people to get more people to teach, and then a devotional with Tad R. Callister, Sunday School General President. We loved listening to him so much, and we brought someone who was baptized about 6 months ago, and she really appreciated the things she learned. It was cool because beforehand I also got to meet him, he was very kind. A busy week, with even more to do this week. I am grateful to be serving the Lord, this is a busy time for us to preach His gospel. 

Also, I am excited to read the talk from Elder Corbridge. I met him, too, the first Sunday of February, haha. Salt Lake City is turning out to be the best place to serve the Lord! (In response to the awesome BYU address by Elder Lawrence Corbridge that we shared with Elder Adams. Stand Forever by Lawrence E. Corbridge - BYU Speeches.)

I love you so much!

Elder Adams

Pics are of golfing last P-day, and a great deal on oranges! 

March 18, 2019 - Rose Park Zone, SLC, UT

The sunshine looks beautiful! It's finally almost not winter anymore! Transfers are this week! It's crazy how you blink, and six weeks are over! Luckily, Elder Saltzman and I are staying together to finish off his mission.

Holli is great! It's so true! But at this point it's going so fast, nothing is slowing it down! (This was Elder Adams response to Holli’s comment that she is counting the months left “because time passes slower when you´re counting and my mission is passing way too quickly!”)

This week was a blast! We did so much! 

Tuesday, we had incredible back to back lessons. The second lesson was with someone new we just started teaching. He doesn't have too much religious history and is from out of state, so we were just explaining our purpose as missionaries when he suddenly asked, "What's so significant about baptism?" So we immediately talked about that, and he is preparing to be baptized in a few weeks! It was so cool! 

Wednesday we went on exchanges with some other elders. It was great to be able to learn more and see how other missionaries do missionary work! Thursday we finished the exchange and started another one. This one was a huge learning opportunity for me. I learned a lot about how I can become more like the Savior. 

Friday we had a great meeting as a zone, and then we had a lesson with the guy from Tuesday. It was so amazing, he had read an entire pamphlet, and taken notes! Saturday was a beautiful day! Elder Saltzman and I hopped on our bikes, and contacted tons of people. It was a blast! 

This week has been full of small little miracles and large ones as well! I am learning so much every day, not only about Jesus Christ and the Gospel, but about how I can grow and become who He wants me to be! 

Pictures are from biking, a random person's pyramid in their backyard and another lesson we had on temple square this week:

 

March 11, 2019 - Rose Park Zone, SLC, UT

(Thanks so much Mom for doing all that college stuff. Let me know when the questionnaire is sent, and I will do it! I am so grateful for you and your help! I am super excited to go to school, but all in due time, I've got great things to do right now. As for running, wow do I miss running so much. I can't wait to run again! I will plan on calling sometime after noon next week! That will be so fun!)

This week has been incredible!
To start things off we were in meetings the first two whole days. We had MLC, which was very inspiring, and then zone conference, which was super great for the zone to learn some important gospel doctrines. This did limit our time out on the streets, so we tried to make up for it the rest of the week. 

Thursday we were able to do some service with someone we are teaching. We spent some time at the Good Samaritan House preparing food for homeless people. Then, we had some good lessons and then spent some quality time in the evening working one specific apartment complex where we saw lots of success and talked to loads of people. 

Friday, we had exchanges with other elders. I got to work in a Tongan area with Elder Thia. He is from France and goes home in about 3 weeks. We spent lots of time driving and knocking on doors. Only one answered all day, but we stayed very diligent and focused, so it was enjoyable regardless of the success. We actually drove north of Salt Lake, and we were inside of Elder Freestone's area in the Layton mission. Didn't see him, but just a little fun fact. 

We also had our interviews with President Hillier, over a week late due to his busy schedule. It was so great to talk with him. I know that our Savior Jesus Christ atoned for our sins, and if we turn to Him and repent in the way He has taught and showed us, we will be forgiven for all of our mistakes. On top of that, if we turn to Him, He can lift us over every trial or challenge we face. I know this is true because I have felt and seen this in my life. I know Christ lives by similar experiences.

Saturday was a blast. We did a blitz in some other elders area, and had a great time tracting. We saw some neat miracles. The rest of the day consisted of finding and helping people come to church.
Sunday was great, it is always a blessing to take the sacrament. We spent time with a member contacting loads of referrals, and we got some answers finally! There are some amazing things happening in Rose Park!
I love you all so much!
Elder Adams 

A few pictures from lessons at Temple square.

The ones with the temple it is snowing super hard behind us.

March 4, 2019 - Rose Park Zone, SLC, UT

Dear Madre, thanks so much for helping with all of my college stuff. I honestly appreciate that so much. I'm grateful to be able to spend every day out here focused on the work. So many amazing things have been happening.

First off, on Monday we got haircuts, and not only did the guy give us them free, but then after my companion helped him fix a wall (Elder Saltzman worked construction back home), he took us out to dinner. So that was a fun start to the week.

On Tuesday, we had plans to eat with a family that is planning to be sealed in the temple, at the Lion House Pantry near Temple Square. Long story short, it didn't happen, but while we were waiting, someone approached us. It was Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. It was so cool to shake his hand, and talk for just a brief minute. He introduced us to his friend from France, and happily told us, "we had lunch in French!" It was super cool! I know he is one of the Lord's special witnesses, I could feel the Spirit of the Lord so powerful around him.

We then spent the next 48 hours on two separate exchanges. First, I want with Elder Slats into his area. We had tons of fun with some crazy people, plus it was super cold and rainy. But the best part was that we worked so hard, and tried to contact so many people. Their area has so much potential, and we are so excited for those elders. Then we went on exchanges with the assistants, and I got to stay in my area, with Elder Smith. It was really great to see how he has grown into an incredible servant of God. We had some good experiences tracting some places.

Friday was awesome with meetings, and then that night we went to Wendy’s for dinner and ended up teaching this guy the plan of salvation, and having a 50 minute conversation. The best part is that he is super open and a YSA, which is exactly what we are looking for! On Saturday, we did another short exchange with some elders for a baptism, and I got to find even more YSAs in some other elders areas, so it was very cool how it worked out.

I love serving the Lord so much, I am so happy! 

I love you so much Mom! 

Elder Adams 

P.s. Only this pictures right now, with the member on Friday. He was baptized a year and a half ago, and is debating serving a mission, so he went to some meetings of ours, and is super excited to serve now. Plus, we got to practice some new Facebook missionary work, with #socialmediasplits.