CURRENT ADDRESS:

SISTER ELLYN ADAMS

4405 BRISTOL RD. APT 1B

TREVROSE, PA 19053

Article in the local newspaper about Ellyn and her companion a couple of months ago.

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emails and pics from the past 6 weeks

4-28-14

Okee Dokee!

So... Want to hear how weird my companion and I are? Here you go:

At 10:15 pm Sister Bettilyon said:

"Sister Adams, one wish. Go!"

"One million horses. One million stalls. One million robots to clean

up the stalls..."

"I said one wish!"

"That is one wish!"

"You can't be selfish with your wishes..."

"Ok, fine. Those horses will go to Africa and feed the little children."

"Ew, you're feeding them horses?!"

"It's your fault they're eating horse meat!"

"Ew you little nasty!"

Then we rolled, literally rolled, on the floor laughing for 5 minutes.

We seriously say the dumbest things and it is so much fun. Plus she

buys me Chick-Fil-A all the time, life is good. Oh, and yeah... We work

hard ;) it's fun AND we're working hard :)

I realize that when I am with people and talking to them my problems

melt away. I love it. This mission has been my saving grace. If I

hadn't come, I don't know where I would be, but it know with my whole

heart that I wouldn't be happy. I am happy as I am serving people. :)

A lot of our appointments are falling through, I don't enjoy it.

We had dinner at our Bishops house this week. Their kids are a bunch

of misfits, so obviously I enjoyed that dinner. The first thing Sister

Ackerman asked us is "what would you like to drink? We have large

juice, water, crystal light, milk...?" And then their 11 year old

daughter said "we also have acid!" With a huge smile on her face. Then

during dinner, one of the questions asked was "dad, what is more

valuable, an uncut diamond or a cut diamond?" That was pretty much the

gist of our dinner. It was so much fun... And loud. :)

Our district is going to make a lemonade stand in the summer and we

are also going to put free Book of Mormons on there. :)

We have a British Elder in our district. I get him to say "hobby

lobby" and "lemon tart" all the time. He says that I sound like I

belong in northern England with my accent, but that's just his nice

way of saying that my accent stinks.

We taught the youth in our ward yesterday (i swear my calling in life

is to be a teacher...) and we taught them about how they will receive

their answers from God. This is a great quote to sum up what we talked

about:

"We are not grounded in the wisdom of the world or the philosophies of men--however traditional or respected they may be. Our testimony of Jesus Christ is based on the revelations of God to His prophets and to us individually." -Elder Dallin H. Oaks

Not much else to say!

Love yous,

Sister Adams :)

4-7-14

Hello family and friends! I don't have too much time to talk because
we are going to center city to go visit the center city sisters and
buy stuff! Yay! This week was awesome. Want a miracle story? Here it
is!
Well, we have this lady in our ward who has had a rough life. Born and
raised in Philly. Abusive marriage, health problems. She is the
sweetest soul though. She calls us Sister, and not because it's our
title. She knows that we truly are Sisters. She called us after
general conference and told us it was the first one she had ever
watched and how HAPPY she was. She was crying. She told us that she
felt the Spirit so much as she watched it and she felt so comforted...
What a coincidence! So did I! For all of my friends that don't know
what General conference is, it's where the Apostles and Prophet of The
Lord speak to everyone (you don't have to be a member of this church
to watch) and essentially tell us how to have everlasting happiness :)
one of my favorite quotes from it was:

3-31-14

Hi!
How is everyone?
Today was super duper fun because I got to go ice skating... It was
kind of horrible with my sprained ankle. Like, it really hurts, but it
was SO MUCH FUN. We laughed a lot and it was well worth the $11 each
for 1 hour haha...
It's been a tough transfer, not even gonna sugar coat it. But we have
learned so much together. I have learned that Heavenly Fathers love
for me and others is never ending. I have learned that The Lord will
help us if we are willing to listen. I know people who say "The Lord
has never answered my prayers" but I know that The Lord always answers
if we pray sincerely, willing to act on the answer we receive. I know
that He answers, but it may not and probably won't be in the way we
think it should be. And why should it be? If God is all-knowing, why
would we want our answers to be the way we think? That's just silly ;)
Silly is my new favorite word. I feel all cheesy and such and I love
it. Life is good.
My life has been forever changed and hopefully will continue to be
ever changing. I didn't want to change when I first came to the east
coast, but I know that change is good. That is what the gospel is all
about.... Changing ourselves to become more Christlike! :) I am so
happy, even though life is hard. I am so happy :) my change is coming
because I am tying to help others change. I love it, it s a win-win!
It feels like a lifetime since I've seen all of you. I feel like I
barely know you... It's kind of sad, actually. But whatever, you guys
are still pretty cool...hopefully.
Don't have too much to report this week.
Love you all,
Sister Adams!

3-24-14

Dearest family and friends, 

First off...

HAPPPPPPPPPYYYY BIRDDDAAAYYY MOMMY! Ahh, you're 50!? When I show people your picture, they think you look about 35... Jus sayin. Love you. I celebrated your birthday by celebrating my year mark of my mission! I ate Dairy Queen and burnt a pair of my tights (like, really. I got a match and burnt them, it's sort of a weird rite of passage sort of thing for Sisters. Elders burn a shirt)... You should feel really special ;) 

I am so grateful for all of you and your diligence in writing to me every week! I am so grateful for all of your well wishes and most importantly, prayers for me. I feel them and I know they're coming. They're well needed, so thank you :) this work is hard... No one wants to talk to the Mormon missionaries! But then we find those people who are searching for God. We always seem to find the people who are... Coincidence? I think NOT. :) 

Anyways, this week was my year mark! I can't believe it's been a year! It's been sooooo hard but SO worth it's, I have had the BEST time of my life! 

This week was great! We have been teaching a man named Nelson. His wife is a member and he is not. He's from Ecuador and he is super funny. I love going to their house because it is very humble and she plays the bassoon and their daughter who is 6 does gymnastics in the living room. When I say "gymnastics" I mean she runs from wall to wall and leaps over stuff. She's super cute and loves to show off. Anyways, he is searching for the truth, and he says that he feels different at our church. He finally (after 6 years) wants to know for himself! It's exciting to be a part of this :) our lessons with him are hard with their daughter, but he really wants to know and the Spirit is present :) my companion and I are finally being able to teach well together :) it's great! Oh, and they have a candy bowl... Maybe that's another reason I like being there ;) 

I really am loving these people. It's weird. When I first came out all I cared about was myself and wanted to sleep in, haha. But now I just love people and love hearing their stories! These people help confirm to me that there is a God. They are too amazing for us to not have a God. 

Then... My favorite part of my week. On the 21st, Sister Carrigan (my old comp) came and did exchanges with me! She is now my Sister training leader, so i get to see her more often! She celebrated my "birthday" (my one year mark) by putting balloons and glitter and streamers on my bed and then put a candle in a ho-ho and sang happy birthday to me! Ahh, it was wonderful! I love her and it was so nice to have her here. It was so nice to reminisce and to be able to have someone that knows me. She helped me out a lot and I am so eternally grateful for that exchange. :)

All the stuff I gave up to come here ain't got nothin on Philly! I am just so grateful for the experiences that I've had here.

I love all of you... For my Easter package I've just decided that I just want a whole thing of wisps... People like to feed me a lot of garlic...

Love you c: I will send pictures later :)

Sister Adams!

3-17-14

Hello All,

This week has been rough work-wise. Sister Bischoff had a stomach infection and a sinus infection. We stayed in for about 2 days and then went to the doctors for a full day ("Minute Clinics" are not a minute... just sayin'!) and it was kind of hard on me! I worked on a lot of office work, but it was just not fun!

But, we totally saw some miracles. Real ones! Real-life miracles!

I was having a hard, anxiety-filled day, and it was only 9am. But, we had Zone training (where all the awesome missionaries in an area get together and learn how to be even BETTER missionaries) and it was amazing! You know how busy I am? I'm lucky if I get a 10 minute nap. But they asked us what we wanted as we signed our mission papers and got ready to leave. We said a lot of different answers, but we decided to focus on the one that was to "Strengthen our testimony/faith." We made goals and talked about how we can do that. We all decided to read the Book of Mormon in a month. One month. that's 18 pages a day. That's A LOTTTTTTTT for someone who is so busy! I totally thought, wait. NO. I don't have time for this. I don't think I can do it. Its too much and I already read the Book of Mormon so I'm good. Then, as I thought about it, the Spirit came into my heart, I felt peace and I knew that I would be able to do it. My worries and anxieties that I previously had, I swear, they just went away. I don't know where, but they left. I didn't even REMEMBER what they were. It was crazy. So I accepted the challenge. I am now on page 56 on day 4. I find time to read in the morning, during lunch break and before bed. Its kind of awesome. So, that day I was flying with the Spirit. We went out with Kathryn ( a recent convert) and found a guy named Brady from Haiti and he always wanted to know which of the churches were true. Well, if we didn't have Kathryn with us we wouldn't have been able to teach him, but we did... totally not a coincidence.... and he needed it! The Spirit was so strong. I just know that all of his anxieties and fears were melted away as he felt the Spirit :) This is the best work. I get to see miracles every day, especially within myself!

This is the hardest thing that I have ever done in my life. But, I will always combat that thought with: THIS IS THE BEST THING THAT I HAVE EVER DONE. I do not regret saying bye to my friends and family and my nieces and nephews and my puppies and MUSIC and my schooling for a year and a half because I see MIRACLES every day. I see people change into who they want to be and more importantly who God wants them to be. I see myself change. I am not the best at changing myself, but I see it. I see my companions change. Yup. This is cool! Just sayin :)

Love you all... 

Alright, BYE! :)

Sister Adams 

3-10-14

Hey ma and pa and everyone :) 

I am in the apartment making rice and spinach and beef... It's a concoction that I made up while my companion is napping. I am going to eat it with chopsticks just because! :) She naps more than me... It's pretty crazy! 

So yeah, my companions name is Sister Bischoff :) she's from Rexburg Idaho and is the youngest of 3 (2 older brothers). She is super chill, I love it. I've had companions that have to be in control of everything. It doesn't work that way, and she is go with the flow, but works hard :) I like her, I'm excited to learn from her... Let's see what The Lord has up his robe sleeve this time! 

It was sad to say bye to Sister Cox, though. I wasn't ready to leave her yet. We just got our flow, but alas,she is in Pottstown, PA now! She came back for a Robs baptism, but we'll get to that later...

This Friday we did service for a less active lady in our ward. She wanted us to do about a months worth of laundry in the laundromat, so we did. We put the stuff in, left and got sushi, switched it and then went to a stamp and coin store (one of my new weaknesses is stamps and hers is coins...we couldn't resist.) we walked in and about 10 minutes later I got bored. I sat at one of the tables in the rear of the store and started talking to the workers that were organizing the stamps and pins and postcards. I started talking to them and introduced myself. The guy, Pete, said "are you like a nun or something?"haha my thought was "that would be cool..." But i told him no. He asked "what do you do?" And I said well, let me tell ya! To make a long story short, we taught them the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ right then and there in the laundromat! The girl, Nicole, was really really interested. She wanted to know how she could have the comfort of Jesus Christ more in her life. I bore testimony of how much I am grateful for the comfort He brings me. I told her that I knew that she would find that too :) So yeah, taught people in a stamp shop, all because of our weaknesses of stamps and coins! Haha 

Then this week... Rob got baptized and confirmed! He was so excited! Let me tell you how it went...

His son in law gave a talk on baptism

His daughter (who is on her mission in El Salvador) bore strong testimony via skype.

His son in law baptized him

Bishop and his wife sang a duet

Sister Cox gave a talk on the Holy Ghost

Then he was welcomed into the ward.

My favorite part...he bore his testimony. He started out thanking people, then he bore a firm testimony of how he knew the Book of Mormon to be true, that this is the true Gospel. He truly accessed the Atonement in his life. He is clean of his sins and is free of his past. Not trying to sound cheesy or cliche. I am just so happy that I got to be a part of his learning process and got to see him change into a man of God :) that's all ;)

Me, Rob and Sister Cox

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Man this beef spinach rice stuff is good!

I'm learning how to crochet. My companion made an afghan her last transfer... Crazy! I just want to do a scarf! Haha

Here's a thought: 

The church was restored in 1830 and had 15 members. Now there are 15,000,000+ members in 160 countries all around the world. Why is it growing and other churches are closing down? Well, let me tell ya. Because people are looking for the truth, and we have it. Their questions haven't been answered anywhere else, and they will be in this church. How awesome! 

I know this church is the same church that Christ established on the earth. :) I feel it in my heart and I know it.

I love you guys! Keep the letters comin'! 

-Sister Ellyn Adams :)

Message and email from 3-2-14

I addition to the love, compassion and service that Ellyn has shared with her fellow human beings for the last 10 months, this is the message that she shares every day:

Our message is remarkable and simple. God is our Father. We are His children. We are part of His family. He loves us. From the beginning of the world, He has followed a pattern of love and concern. Many times He has reached out in love to reveal the gospel of Jesus Christ so that His children can know how to return to Him. He revealed it to prophets such as Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Moses. But people have repeatedly chosen to reject that gospel. Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ Himself taught His gospel and established His Church, and accomplished the Atonement. Incredibly, people even rejected Jesus. Whenever people disregard or distort true doctrines and ordinances, God withdraws His authority to administer the Church.

Our invitation to you and all people is to add to the truths you already treasure. Consider our evidence that our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, have again reached out to God’s children in love and revealed the fullness of the gospel to a prophet. This prophet’s name is Joseph Smith. The evidence of this glorious truth is found in a book—the Book of Mormon—which you can read, ponder, and pray about. If you pray with a sincere heart, with real intent and faith in Christ, God will tell you by the power of the Holy Ghost that it is true.

Hello to all my peeps out there,

Well, I'm going to be transferred again. Yep. I'm gonna miss my companion like crazy..

She and I have had an amazing run! We both just want to work and do

what Heavenly Father has in store for us. And guess what?! We've seen

so many miracles! Like, forrealsies. One of them being my ghetto

accent is getting really good. She has been a very good critiquer and

helped me be better and better at it! Also, I am a very good Philly

driver now.

But let's get real. 

This week we have seen our work go sky high and

it's crazy! That's why we're getting split up. It's cuz we're doing

too good! haha.  We taught a young man yesterday. We asked him why he thought we

came.   He said "because I'm on the less active list" and we said "can

we make a correction to what you've said? We are not here because you

are less active. We are here so that you can see the blessing of the

Atonement in your life." I know that the suffering the Christ did for

us made it possible for me to feel happy and take the anxieties of

life away. That's what Jesus Christ has done for us. And everything

else. We want him to see that and feel that in his life. We don't want

it to just be an idea but a reality in his life.

AND...There's an old Swedish man that we are teaching. He said something funny,

"I don't drink...THAT much" haha.  He's 82 and he teases us like no other!  He is looking for

truth and his purpose in life. He asked those questions to others but

was never answered. We all want to know that but it seems it takes a

while to find it. He's found his answers though:) I'm excited for him.

The message that we share can answer all the questions that you have had in

your heart, forever. I have full confidence in that. :)

I am so grateful for this work. If you have questions about what I do,

just shoot me an email!  ellyn.adams@myldsmail.net

I'd love to help you out :)

This work is true! While the world lies and runs in circles, this

message is true! This Gospel is true! :)

Love, Sister Adams

:):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):) hehe

Feb 2014 Emails and Pictures from Ellyn

New Address:

Sister Ellyn Adams

4405 Bristol rd. Apt 1B

Trevrose, PA 19053

Some pictures and exerts from the last few months of emails from Ellyn...

2-9-14

I had chips and salsa and oreos for lunch so this letter is going to be short because I am nutrient deficient!

Well this week I served in Center City Philly for an exchange with the Sister Training Leader. It was awesome. There were so many people, it was kind of overwhelming! I loved it! People dressed super cute and it kind of smelled and it was like a dirtier San Fran.  We met a couple people in the train and we taught a guy in the hospital and it was just what I needed to be more pumped about the work :) It seems that I am usually a roller coaster of emotions, but that exchange really helped me see things a little more clearly :)

We also had an awesome zone training that helped me so much. I don't know... the more I'm out here the more I want to stay. I really don't ever want to leave just because of all the miracles we see everyday!

The people really look out for us :)

There's a group of 7 Sisters and no Elders coming in next transfer. Sister Cox thinks I'm training again.... I might be up for another adventure ;)

I am just so grateful for all the wonderful things that happen everyday, even the things that are happening within myself. I am seeing myself change every day and either I change for the better or worse. Its really cool though knowing that its all my choice which way I go :)

Welp, we'd better get going, we're probably gonna go ice skating :)

Love you all!

Sister Adams!

and yes... its FREEZING here! :D

Ellyn's new apartment (obviously in the summer)

1-20-14

I am turning 20. My 10 month mark is TODAY. And I'm leaving Wilkes-Barre. This place means so much to me. I have grown so much and I feel that I have changed a little bit more into who God wants me to be. I have been through a lot of hard times. A lot of times where I have felt alone, but I found that God is there. He is so present. We just have to open our hearts and have that desire to change and know, and He will show that to us. I am so grateful for the people and the richly spiritual experiences I have seen in this area. <3 I am so eternally grateful. I can only look back on my mission so far and say how full of gratitude I am towards our Heavenly Father.
This week we had another snow storm. It wasn't that cold, but it was snowy. One of our investigators, Rose, called us and told us it was too dangerous to go up the hill to her house in the snow, so she was going to cancel. We had already been cancelled on that day and me being the stubborn Sister that I am, I told her that we would walk up the hill.She was surprised, but we went anyways. Well, our car made it up SUPER easy up the hill and then we had an AMAZING lesson with a lady that just wants to do what God wants her to do. She then told us "You know, after I got off the  phone with you I told my husband 'those preachers and ministers are sitting in their nice, warm church buildings while these girls will walk up the hill to teach me the gospel' and so you girls are different." It was awesome. We had the excuse to cancel all of our appointments because of the snow, but we didn't and our day went EXACTLY as it was planned! It was awesome!  And I am so grateful. The Lord definitely blesses the people who put the effort in!

We did yoga this morning. Well, not really yoga, but meditation and it was super awkward. Like the lady was like chanting in a foreign language and it was just super weird. Lots of weird juju. But it was nice for only $6. :D

I cant wait to go to my next area. I'm super sad. I'm going to send more pictures now! I love you!!!

Happy January! :)

I love you!

Sister Adams :)

1-13-14

This week at District Meeting, it was about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was exactly what I needed to hear... and this is why:

(excerpt from a letter to the Mission President)

"So me and Sister Baluyot both tried something this week... We tried to regain our faith. We stopped doubting our lessons falling through and stopped talking about all of the reasons for the lesson to fall through or go negative. It was kind of hard, but guess what? IT WORKED. We stopped making an excuse out of our lack of faith. We worked hard and diligently. Lunch breaks became shorter, we worked even though it was 4 degrees outside and we TRIED. We tried so hard to try. And our goals and actuals are steadily going up. We have seen many miracles this week. I feel that we are both refining each other. I love my companion and the rich spiritual experiences that we have been having, and WILL continue to have. (Sorry about all the capslock, but not sorry because I feel so strongly about this! This has changed my whole outlook on my mission!)"

Jan 6, 2014

This week has been... interesting. We had a wonderful pancake-filled breakfast with the Deans to start the New Years off right with carbs and more carbs. It was awesome :D So delicious. Brother Dean made all of it (he just got done with Leukemia... he is AMAZING! Such an inspiration) and then they came out and worked with us the rest of the day.

The next morning, to kick start the New Year, I decided to work out hard. I was doing high knees when I tripped over the step that goes into the kitchen (its just one little step) and sprained my ankle. It was a lot of fun. That meant I got to lay on the couch for a couple of hours with a member while my sweet Golden got to teach all the lessons. It was good because I will probably be transferred soon so she needs to learn the area  more.

The next day I got a massive cold (I think it almost turned to strep except I got super blessed from the Lord so it didn't) and now I sound like a man. I have been praying to be humble and to stop talking a s much... Heavenly Father DOES answer our prayers, and I am a perfect example of that!

12-9-13

At the end of a recent lunch with Sister Panohaya (it was just her, so we had a hard time communicating with her little English and Sis Baluyots little Spanish and my even littler knowledge of Spanish!) we shared a message.  We talked about Nephi, and all he did. She was trying to talk in English but we told her to just talk in Spanish to make it easier. She did and I remember just looking at her and listening as best as I could to what she was saying. I just kind of guessed at what she was saying and the feelings of the Spirit, like understanding, were there so strong. Sister Baluyot knows more Spanish than I do and ever few sentences I would look at her and I would say what I thought she said, and Sister Baluyot was so surprised that I knew what she was saying. It wasn't because of the expressions on her face or the way that she spoke, it was because of the Spirit. I was able to understand her because the Lord needed me to understand her. The Spirit is real. I know that to be true.

11-25-13

The only thing that I want to do today is cuddle up and watch Elf.  

11-25-13

This week we went and visited with Ed again (remember the one who was a turd to us the first time we met him and then he turned out to be golden?) I am a pessimist and was like "oh, it was just one good lesson, this next one is not going to be as good..." BUT...it totally was awesome! We were going to teach him a quick restoration lesson, but it turned into reading Enos from the Book of Mormon and the Spirit was so strong. We talked about prayer and how he can feel the way that Enos felt, like he was clean and how he can also have that connection with God. (If you haven't read Enos, you totally should, just sayin.... and if you have, read it again!) and he said that he would read the Book of Mormon, because we told him that is how he will know if our message is true. At the end of the lesson, we asked him to say the prayer, he said no. We asked why, he said no. We taught him how to pray, he said no. We asked him again, he said no. A little persistence, and BAM! the 5th times the charm! He prayed. After he prayed, we asked him how he felt. He said he felt good. We told him that feeling is from God.  Man, miracles are everywhere, even in Plymouth... lol ;)