Sister Adams' email and pics from July 29th

Hey mom-

well, this week my mouth decided to develop a canker sore... its times like these that i really REALLY want to go on google and research home remedies.  Its taking over my whole mouth! jk, its like the size of a sunflower kernel. I numbed it with hydrogen peroxide, so thats helping a bit. it was cool to see it fizz up like things do with hydrogen peroxide. I would send you a picture of it so you could put it on my blog, but another sad thing is that my camera is GHETTO.

Amanda looks super pretty in that picture that you sent! I cant wait to meet sweet Isabelle.

I think about the babies a lot and I miss them lots. Give them hugs for me :) Hows dad? How are you, mom?

I cant believe its almost August!! its super weird to think that coming up on September 30th its my 6 month mark, then only a year to go! Mission life moves WAY too quick. Of course I miss everyone at home and sometimes wonder what every ones doing, but I am NOT looking forward to the day that I have to take this name tag off. I am realizing what kind of missionary I want to be. Last transfer was really hard, as you know. Honestly, it was the time where i really had to decide if i was going to keep being a missionary or not. It was not necessarily because I didn't want to be a missionary and teach people about the gospel, but it was because I didn't realize what exactly I was getting myself into and that I was giving up late summer nights, sleeping in, music, friends and Netflix and all that good stuff that seemed to be important. But now I want to be here because i feel so blessed to be so involved in the gospel and I'm finally realizing myself more and who Heavenly Father wants me to be, but  keeping in mind who I want to be, and aligning the two. There are more good days than bad days, but the bad days definitely are the days where I am learning things, and having to make the decision to change or not. This week I realized how blessed I am to realize I am a daughter of God. I also realized what kind of missionary I want to be. It came to the point where my companion and I had to discuss our use of time. We didn't agree, but one thing that she brought up is that she respects me and my decision to know what kind of missionary I want to be and I wont back down. Its pretty cool :) Dad wrote me a letter and said that one of the most important person converted on my mission will be me, and I am feeling that. I am feeling myself getting converted and its way cool. :)

I have been praying to find people that are wanting to learn about the gospel, and one day we walk into the library, and a journalist for the Herald Newspaper said "Hey, you have name tags, you would be a cool story." so he got to know us, and asked us some questions, but it was a cool experience to see my prayers answered. someone might need our smiles, you never know :)

Transfers are coming up, and everyone thinks I'm getting a golden and I say DON'T PUT THAT EVIL ON MY RICKY BOBBY and then I think it would be pretty cool, but super hard.

 

 

One thing that I would like to share in attempt to make up for the lack of fun stories is verse 4 in Ether chapter 3, which I have seen in a different light these past couple of days. It talks about missionary work, and how the Lord is preparing all of us. :)

 

"4. And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in the darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea."

 

Now what does this have to do with missionary work?

 

"4. And I know, O Lord, that thou hast all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones (us) , O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in the darkness; and they (US) shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have lightwhile we shall cross the sea.

5. Behold, O Lord, thou canst do this. We know that thou art able to show forth great power, which looks small unto the understanding of men."

 

Since every member is a missionary, the Lord is talking to all of us in this verse. We are prepared and are continuing to be prepared to go into the darkness. And who is in the darkness? Everyone who needs the Gospel, whether that be active members, or random people we meet, we need to be that light, and the Lord has promised that as we do what He has commanded us, that Angels will be on our right hand and our left, to bear us up. (D&C 84:88) I know that with my heart. I know that you can help build the kingdom of God. Ask for help, ask for guidance, and he will give it to you.

 

I love you a lot and miss you a lot, but its getting bearable. Hugs and Kisses and good vibes from the East coast~

Sister Adams

email and pics 7-8-13 from Sister Adams

Me at the Susquehanna River

email from July 8th

HI DAD!

HAPPY 4TH ( or 8TH) OF JULY!

So you know whats funny? I talk about you a lot. I share lots of stories with my companion and random people about you, and its just weird. I can feel our relationship growing, even though I'm all the way across the country. Its pretty cool and it gets me emotional (in a good way). I love you dad :)  

So I'm sitting here in the library and I really need to go pee, but I cant because our computers are timed and my companion is writing too so I'm going to wait... but the letter might be a little scatter-brained, so bear with me :)

Me and Sister Carringon

So the one girl that lives with the Cain family is named Alisha. She is 1/2 black and 1/2 white. She has freckles and a brown fro. She is a little taller than me (shocker) and kind of chubby and has braces.  She moved out of her dads house and lives with her friend Reinell ("Rain-ell") Cain. When I first met her she couldn't believe that I was the same age as her. She calls me her "best friend," its really cute :)  She asks a lot of questions about our church, and one night we were there for dinner.  We had gravy, biscuits, and fried chicken... it didn't do too well with my stomach a day later, but in the moment it was delicious...

For our lesson we talked about the Book of Mormon. In our ward, the Bishop has asked us to invite people to give out a Book of Mormon with 12 witnesses (they put their testimony in the front cover) and give it to someone.  So that's what we asked them to do.  They accepted, and Alisha was sitting next to me, and she asked what the Book of Mormon was. I told her about it and she asked if she could have one before I could ask her to even read it. She wanted to give one to her dad. I invited her to read the 1st chapter for the next time we saw her (we're over there a lot) and she accepted.  Its about a week later and she has yet to read it, but she went to church.  She came and sat next to me pretty much the whole time and it was really nice :)  She kept on asking us questions in gospel essentials, the teacher felt prompted to talk about the Gadianton robbers. I was like oh man, where is this going..?  Alisha leaned over and asked Sister Carrigan if THAT story was in the book of Mormon, and she said it was. Alisha then said that she wanted to read it even more, that she would go home, shower and then read.  We're going to ask her soon if she's read it.  I can tell that she has such a desire to know if God really is there and if He really knows her personally.  I have come to know of the converting power of the Book of Mormon. I am really hoping that she reads it.  I have a lot of love for her already and just want her to be happy because she's gone through a lot in her life.  At church she saw my ring and asked what CTR meant.  I told her and she said "Oh, I like that," and smiled.  so I was thinking of getting her a CTR ring, except now i just have find out how. :)

Our apartment

The rainy summer weather

 

The balcony at our apartment

Our 4th of July was really fun!  We had 2 parties planned to go to, and the first one was the Ward party.  It was really fun and we met a lot of members and Sister Carrigan said that there is no dieting on holidays so I ate like a pig.  There was homemade cobbler and it was delicious :)  Sister Carrigan and I color coordinated out clothes. I was the stars and she was the stripes, we are the cutest Sister Missionaries in our ward ;)  We later had a party with an investigator named Jeanine ( i think she might have emailed you already, but she said she was going to send you guys pictures) and her family. She has 2 adopted daughters from China and 2 dogs and 2 cats. I cuddled with a boxer, it was wonderful :)  We stayed there for way too long, but we got a ride with the Elders so we couldn't leave.  It felt really weird because we're supposed to be urgent missionaries, but I literally couldn't.  I know I was sent to this area to learn how to relax, while still being urgent, but have fun.  I feel a lot more comfortable here :) but anywhooooo, the party was really fun.  They wouldn't let us help, so we were forced to relax.  It was weird. (ok, I only have 15 minutes left  ) so that was out 4th.  We didn't get to see fireworks until the 6th. The Fletchers were driving us home (the guy that called you) and he saw the fireworks over in Baltimore/Havre de Grace and decided to take us to the VA (Veterans Association) and we watched the fireworks. It felt so nice and it made me miss home, but I was just so happy. It was a perfect ending to a boring day :) The Fletchers have been such a blessing in this area. They have given us so much love, words cant even explain.

Oh, Sister Carrigan chipped her tooth trying to open a honey stick with her teeth. her name is now Sister Snaggletooth :P

love you, hope you're doing alright :) LOVEEEEEEEEEE YYYYYOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!! 

Sister Bell Adams :)  

  

Sister Ellyn Adams' emails from 6-3-13 and 6-10-13

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.

Sister Ellyn Adams' email from 5/29/13

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 

Me and Sister Williams

At the Delaware River

Cool clouds

At the liberty bell

My current home town

Me and the Sister in my district

Sister Ellyn Adams' email 5/21/2013

Hello Family and Friends,

I only have 50 more minutes, and that's too short of a time to tell you all that I want to, so I'm going to have to tell you the best things about my week!  OK, so on Wednesday we got our new golden. She's amazing. I want to be her. Her name is Natalie and she's 21 from Colorado. She's a visa waiter and is waiting to go to Brazil. She speaks a little bit of Portuguese and has to do language study for an additional 30 mins in the morning, so our studies last 3.5 hours. So during that time I can take a nap, but I haven't yet because I need to finish reading the Book of Mormon by the end of this transfer and I'm only in Alma. She is super excited about the work, and that's exactly what I lack. She is the glue in our companionship, and its so wonderful :) She was in theatre, so she's a little dramatic, but she's extremely sweet. She was studying at BYU Idaho to become a special ed/elementary ed teacher (wasn't a surprise... cuz 98% of the girls that go to BYUI do that) and you can totally tell. She calls us silly and says funny things like that. She and I get along really well. So since she's been here, we've been going on a lot of splits. And that leaves me to go and teach with  members. So I was at a lesson for a less active family and they're a big Mexican family. I was going to teach Maddie and Ana, the two teenagers that speak English. I was about to start the lesson and the door knocked. I look over and I see 2 Nametags (Elders) walk in... the Camden missionaries. So I just laughed. It was so comical... I guess the Elders are teaching the Spanish people in the house already and they happened to have an appointment at the same time. I was kind of annoyed because I felt like I was ready to do the lesson by myself, but then I realized that the Spirit was so strong and I just needed to shut up and let the Spirit guide. They were talking about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I bore my testimony of prayer. Even though they talked in Spanish most of the time, the Spirit was so strong and I knew that the family felt the Spirit...except maybe the men drinking in the kitchen haha. I left the lesson feeling so good, but it was just a funny lesson.

I'm really scared of street contacting and door approaches. They're really awkward to me, and I've only had like 3 people ever be interested in what we teach. 3 is a lot, but compared to how many people that we go and knock, its such a small number. It becomes even smaller when we call and they're not interested anymore. We had one guy that Sister Meeks and Gottfredson met while they were on exchanges. He felt the Spirit so strong as they taught him the "Family: A proclamation", and they made a return appointment. At this appointment, the Spirit was still so strong, and he wanted to be baptized... we were so excited! We made a date for June 23rd. We came back for another appointment, and he opened the door, said he didn't want to be a part of our church, and closed the door. Its just weird because when we first talked to him, we all got along and we built a friendship with him, but then when we went back it was just like he was breaking up with us! haha He just was so cold. Anyways, we're praying for him, because he's so sad.  My companions say that I'm really good at asking inspired questions.

A lot of our appointments have been cancelling on us, so I guess the Lord really does want us to find NEW people to teach :) I was having a hard time talking to people yesterday, and we had a talk in the back of our car called "His Grace is Sufficient." If you haven't read it, do it! It is the best talk in the world!!! One of my favorite lines in it is "Parents, leaders and prophets are pulling for you...and Jesus is pulling with you." I can feel the love towards me from home. It is strengthening me so much and I can't express how much everyone means to me. The random emails from the ward, my family and my friends... the packages from Grandma Sue with random things... the letters in the mail. I know that they come at the right time every time. 

Thank you all and love you all!!!

Sister Adams

Sister Adams' email from 5/6/13

Hello All,

Last Monday was Zone Unity Day and we played capture the flag, and it got really fun when I actually decided to play. I won the game for my team, but it was pretty anti-climactic because when I finally got the flag (a blown up penguin doll... super cute :)) the Elders were standing there arguing so no one even noticed. :p its ok, i still felt good. And I think I got a bruise so I was super happy haha.

After Zone Unity Day, we went to dinner with a member, Sister G, and she was sort of in a bad mood. She then got to talking about her past, and how she thinks that God is punishing her for her impatience with getting married. I got a prompting to say "You are forgiven," and my first instinct was like "What? How do you know that... that would be awkward if you told her that..." and that prompting wouldnt leave me alone, thank goodness. I tried to ignore it, and I shouldn't have, but I did. Eventually my heart was racing and the Spirit was so strong, I told her "I feel really weird saying this because I don't know you very well, but I'm trying this new thing where I'm following the promtings of the Holy Ghost, and He is prompting me to say that you are forgiven." She looked at me with tears in her eyes and said "Wow, thats really cool." Sister Meeks then said that she felt the same prompting but didn't say it. I felt so good helping her with a burden that she hadn't felt was lifted, but that wasn't because the Lord didnt forgive her, it was because she hadn't forgiven herself yet. I felt really good being an actual instrument in His hands rather than looking the part of an instrument. That experience motivated me to listen to the Spirit and not ignore it because people NEED to hear what I have to say.

I had exchanges this week, and it was kind of scary because I stayed in the area for the first time alone, and I was pretty much in charge. I had 4 lessons that day and Sister Argueta barely knew them... and so did I! So i was super nervous but I asked Heavenly Father to give me peace, and He did. I did a lot better in the lessons, and strengthened relationships with those people, it was awesome. We also got 2 new investigators, Elaine and Nadine. Nadine was walking her dog and we talked to her and of course I pet her dog. We started talking to her about the book of Mormon, and she asked what it was, so we told her. She invited us to her house, so we went. We sat on her porch and listened as she told us about her parents that died. We then told her that she will see them again and about the plan of salvation. She cried a little bit and we made another appointment for Tuesday.  Sister Argueta and I had a super awesome day and we just talked all day. It was awesome. We stayed up til about 11:30 talking about random things, and it was so nice! it was like a sleepover without any worries or cares... honestly. i know that sounds cheesy, but whatever.  Actually, I am getting a lot cheesier. Its so annoying haha.

Im always tired, but Im always trying to work harder. I'm still trying to get a hang of things and how things work, but its getting easier. 

I just wanna do a shout out WADDUP to my peeps:

Brendan, thanks for the letter. Did you serve in Camden? That place is ghetto and there are no sisters allowed there. Its so nice to hear from you :)

Ruth: write me the letter you turd! i love you.....

Sister Larsen: Thanks for the short email, long emails are sometimes hard to reply to. I am being stylish, but its hard when I only have 8 outfits :/ i make it work :)

Sister Miyakawa: I love you. Thanks for the email, it was awesome! I think that im pretty jealous of your first day handing out a book of mormon! but yeah... it probably was a member being paid :P

Sister Burch! thank you for the email of encouragement, they always help. I hope all is well! :)

Grandma Sue: Your cards are so funny and random! i love them! please keep sending them, even if i don't reply to every one of them.

Miranda baby girl! The wallet is so cute! I use it to hold all my bobby pins and chapstick. Ugh i just love you....

Oh, and happy early Mothers Day!

I love you all and I hope all is happy! <3

Our Zone

Our house on Lippincott

Pretty tree outside our house

One of the funny things that makes me laugh

ME

Me and Sister Meeks (my trainer)

Me and Sister Argueta from Cali

One example of the pretty trees

Weird, sad zebra swan in someones yard

Sister Ellyn Adams

Sister Ellyn Adams' letter from 4-29-13

Hi Mom,
Tell everyone I'm sorry I don't have time to personally email everyone this week,  but we have Zone Unity Day today and I have to go play capture the flag.  We also have to leave early from the library because one of our investigators just found out she has cancer, so we're going with the Elders to give her a blessing. She has a son whos in his 40's and he lives with her.  She wants to be baptized, but can't commit to a date. She says that she can't focus on anything other than her cancer right now, which is understandable. But we know that this is a trial that she can get through. We told her that being baptized will be  a blessing in her life and the presence of the Holy Ghost will give her strength.    
I really miss everyone, but the cure to my homesickness really is WORK. I have been working so hard. I don't think that I am ever going to feel well-rested on  my mission, but I'm getting used to being tired.  It makes it easier to fall asleep.  Another thing that has been a miracle in my life is not having anxiety when I'm going to bed. Understanding the Atonement a little better, I ask Heavenly father to take away my anxiety and let my heart rest.  I have only had ONE night where it was hard to go to bed since!!! I AM SO BUSY! But its great. I have been tracting a lot and doing stop-bys.  I've met a lot of new people this week.   Theres 3 investigators that we're teaching right now, so everyday we're tyring to find more people to teach. 

One of our recent converts, KP, is from Liberia. He just got baptized on January 13th and he is GOLDEN. Hes amazing! He retains so much from the Book of Mormon. He honestly knows more than me. I'm sort of jealous but it just makes me proud.  I had nothing to do with his conversion, and neither did the missionaries really. His relationship with Heavenly Father is amazing. We had a lesson with him on Friday and we were going to teach about Temples, but Sister Meeks was led by the spirit and asked him if he wanted to serve a mission, and what was his response?  "I'll do whatever Heavenly Father wants me to do."  Like, seriously. I have a freaking Nephi that I'm teaching. He's amazing.

Mom, I love you and tell everyone that I love and miss them too. Theres a guy in our ward and he looks like Dad, and I was staring at him the other day... I felt kid of creepy but seriously,  it was trippy.   

I also want to say to my friends that I miss them a lot. I miss being able to talk to them, but reading these emails makes me feel so much better. I know that there are prayers coming from the West Coast in abundance. I can feel them and I am so grateful for them. I am praying for you all, and I hope with any trials or burdens that you are having that they can be lifted. I know that through the Atonement that we can be lifted from our sadness and burdens and I know this because I have!  I am so grateful for a ward, friends, and my family and for all of the letters that you have written me. I cant get back to them this week, but next week I will really try!

I talked in sacrament last week, and it was exactly what I needed. I was super nervous becasue it was my first talk in a ward other than Riverbank ward. Last time I gave a talk there was like 2 rows with my friends and family and a whole ward I knew and loved, so it was a little nerve-racking talking to members that I didn't know. But I asked for peace, because I was super nervous, and I felt so much peace. I said my testimony, and it went great. 

I love you all so much and am learning to miss you all a little less. 

Love, Sister Ellyn Adams