Site and depiction of the new Philadelphia Temple!!!

Ellyn's email from 6-3-13

Hello to everyone from Philly,

So funny story. We got locked out of our apartment this Friday! haha. So we went out for morning exercises at about 6:45 and we came back up without our phone and keys and our door was locked. So we kind of just sat around shocked and didn't know what to do. I had the idea to climb on top of the back porch to go through our bedroom window. It isn't that hard of a climb but we felt it wasn't too safe. We walked to our neighbor Paula who is out and about every morning and we asked if she had a credit card that she doesn't use much so that we could open our door with it. We tried using it but our door was like sealed to the edge of the door frame. Sister Seely then said "now we know that we are really safe at night!"... We then had an idea to walk to the police station which is maybe .7 miles away from our house. It was a SUPER hot day already and it was only 8am. So we got to the police station and NO ONE WAS THERE. So we walked back and Paula got our other neighbor Tom and we came to the conclusion that we should get a ladder and climb from the back porch to go through our window. He got the ladder and I climbed on top to our window. I feel like I got a lot of practice climbing on roofs by how much i used to climb on top of the shed in the back yard. it was such a tender mercy from the Lord because our work and our days were getting so boring to me and I feel like I lack adventure A LOT! We also all kept a really good attitude the whole time and i feel like we got a lot closer from that experience. It was probably the best day though!

Um so this week was just weird and we all agreed. We've had a lot of lessons and we've been doing a lot of splits. I go on splits with a girl named Marlee who just got back from her mission in Madagascar. She is out "fourth companion" and we just love her. She is really open and makes me not feel as lonely. I'm realizing a lot about how the mission is the best thing and the hardest thing in life. I feel like my mission is also preparing me so much to be a mother and a companion. I'm learning and still trying to learn how to be a better missionary and companion. Sometimes I feel like it would be easier to do it by myself, but I know that i will learn my lesson for saying that, haha. I know I didn't write that long of an email this week, and I'm sorry! Love you all so much!!!!!

<3 Sister Adams

Ellyn's email from 6-10-13

Hello to all,

I am not going to be able to write a letter because I FOUND A NEW INVESTIGATOR!!! at the library and I was talking to him for like 30 minutes. And used up all of my computer time. We talked about families, it was awesome. ( I won't be able to write anyone today because its zone unity day so tell everyone I'm sorry... I was planning on writing Ruth and Sam and Kate back this week. ) :(

We had a conference with Elder Rasband and it was AMAZING! He talked about living the purpose of a missionary "We invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end." And he talked about earning members trust.

I haven't cried 3 days in a row now! Its great when i realize that I haven't been unhappy at the end of a long day :) Sister Meeks and I went street contacting the other day and it was really nice. it was raining and we found a new investigator. We're really starting to be new missionaries. Elder Rasband said that "Today is a new day" and so that really changed my perspective. Its a new day to be better and to use the Atonement and find the elect! Ahh, I'm so excited to be a missionary! The conference had about 120 missionaries in the chapel, it was so cool. I was totally refueled for missionary work at the conference and i NEEDED it to be able to be happy. I love you and everyone back home! I'll write a longer email next week, sorry about this week...again!

<3 Sister Adams

But we did get a lot of pictures from her!!!!

Philadelphia mean "fraternal affection" or "brotherly love" in Greek. And is now referred to as "The City of Brotherly Love"

Me and the Sisters in my apartment.

I am so loving all the art and sculpture in Philly.

My favorite sculpture in Philly. No, really! It is!

Philadelphia City Hall And Clock Tower With Its Statue Of William Penn

One of the many ghetto cars.

Hi Everyone,

I am so much more happy than I have been in a long time. I have realized that I am tired of taking this so seriously. And I was way too impatient in the beginning. I think that I thought that I was going to be a really amazing missionary right off the bat, and every ones faith in me was getting to my head, but now I'm just letting the Lord take his time with me. My refiners fire is still not over and I hope it never is. It has waves, but I hope to continue to get those waves throughout my life. i was reading 2 Nephi 4 the other day ( I hope that's right because I don't want to get my scriptures from my bag :P ) and it talks about how the Lord trusts him so much and how he is so close to the Lord, and then he goes on saying " how wretched am I" or something like that. Because he is so close to the Lord, he is realizing how much he needs to fix to come back into his presence. I just love that. It helped my put everything into perspective. I feel like my weaknesses and insecurities are on display right in front of me, and for a while there I was letting them defeat me, but now I wont let that happen. That's exactly what the adversary wants me to do. I have so many souls to touch, and I can't do that if I don't have the Spirit with me (and the Spirit being peace, so if I don't have peace, then I don't have the Spirit).

Ok, so I have a story. And I think that this experience is contributing SO MUCH to my happiness and peace. So we had set a goal for 6 new investigators for this week, and i was like "Oh my gosh... we are never going to reach that." and Saturday comes along, and we have 1 investigator and we report on Sunday. so we prayed SO MUCH to find the elect, to find the people that actually want to hear our message because we have so many eternal investigators (one couple the missionaries have been teaching for 9 years....). so we went and found. We found 5 new investigators that day. it was CRAZY! this is the Lords work, and he will NOT let us fail. The numbers that we set are inspired, and he know that if we work and put full faith in Him, then he will not let us fail.

I love you all. Thank you for all the support, letters, packages and prayers!

<3 Sister Adams