E-mail 11-12-12

Fam,

Mother, you are a question machine!  But I love you so I’ll try my hardest to answer them all. I’m glad to hear that you are all freezing as well. Its sooooo cold here. Who’s the clown that said all that global warming nonsense? He should get fired eh. But ca va. All weather is good! For example, we get let into houses a lot easier when its way cold and the people feel bad for us. If it was hot that wouldn’t happen. Therefore, I LOVE the cold haha. Its weird how the Lord blesses us in a variety of ways. I have come to learn that IT IS ALWAYS GOOD WEATHER NO MATTER WHAT. 

My comp is legit. He is a spiritual giant. Elder Adams has learned more then he ever thought possible these last few weeks all thanks to him. #Blessed. And no we don’t live with anyone else . The next closest missionaries are in Versaille (Paris) about an hour away. President Andersen will be here on Friday. Pretty excited for that. He was a Mission President here so I guess his French is pretty awesome. That will be neat. The ENTIRE mission will all be together Friday morning. We will all be taking a tram to the Versaille chapel. All 180 or so of us! People are gonna freak when they see us haha. I’m sure we will make the news or something. Missionaries have been all over the news these last few weeks because of the elections. Yesterday we had a guy run up to us because he thought I was Mitt Romney's son? I said yes, haha. We have a rendez-vous with him this week!  Should be legit. And he is reading the Book of Mormon. Who knew politics could be used for good? haha Je blague. And to answer your last question... P Days are pretty uneventful. We just go to the grocery store, the church for emails, eat, write letters, and wander the streets if we have time looking at random stores. Oh and we always look at the Grand Cathedral. Its soooo crazzzy. And sooo BIG. I have seen it a million times already in my short time here but it never gets old. It manages to blow my mind every time. I think I answered most of your questions. I tried anyway.

This last week was a real treat... just like every week. Chartres is the best. I love the people here! There are so many people here interested in the gospel right now. We have talked to soooo many people these last three weeks. The first week we had 8 hour days of finding with an occasional lesson. Now two weeks later all of that finding is really paying off.  We have had lots of lessons these last couple of weeks. Teaching lessons is the best! It’s so fun studying every morning for three hours (personal study, team study, and language study) and then going out and sharing the things that I have learned with the people. These last couple of weeks I have been sleeping like a baby. There is no better feeling in the world than knowing you have worked hard all day and then it’s finally time for bed haha. Sleep is my best friend. My bed is a little to small but I have come to learn that the harder I work, the less I care about the size of my bed because once my head hits the pillow I’m out! #DeepSleep.

I don’t know if I have mentioned this already but our President has given every team of missionaries the goal of finding a family and baptizing them before Christmas. What better gift could a person give then that of the gospel?  Nothing!  How lucky am I? Pretty lucky!  And I have received the confirmation that it is possible so I am pretty excited to see what happens in these coming weeks. Things are really looking up here in Chartres. 

Thanks for all your prayers in my behalf!  I have certainly felt them this week. The powerfulness of prayer is just that, powerfull!  Thanks for all that you do. And know that I’m praying for your success as well. Y’all deserve it!  Keep on keepin on. Stay Awesome.  Stay neat!  Miss y’all to the moon and back.  Sometimes haha.  Je blague! Bon semaine!  Garder un sourir!  Life rocks.

Bises,

Elder Adams

Email 11-5-12

Family,

Sounds like life is swell out there in the real world! That’s good! I’m gettin real sick about hearing about all the fishing y’all been doing. Dang. Why didn’t this happen when I lived there eh?  Ha ha. Je blague. Ca va.  Life rocks here as well. Chaque jour est le meilleur. Vraiement. Je suis content etre ici en Chartre! The election is close huh? It’s about time. I’m getting real sick of it haha. Its everywhereeeeeeeee! Like these people should just move to the US of A or something. I’m pretty sure the election is more important here. About 10 times a day we here, "Mitt’s boyz huh... you don’t stand a chance." haha. Not sure how to exactly translate it from French but it’s something like that.

Well I kinda lied about being right next to Paris. It’s actually about an hour and a half train ride. Its not really considered to be a suburb but then again it kinda is. Tons of people live here and work in Paris. I have seen the Eiffel tour a couple of times but not very often. I get to go to Paris once a week for district meeting. The church is in the heart of Paris so it’s always fun to walk by some of the most famous buildings in the world and to learn how to get around Paris. That place is nuts. My ville is pretty small. Way smaller then Charleroi. My new companion Elder Maxwell is a stud. He is from Vegas and has been out for about 13 months. His French is amazing so I learn a lot from him in that regard. He really knows how to talk and communicate with the people so it’s been awesome learning from him in that regard as well. Life is pretty chouette right now. Can’t complain one bit. And Elder Maxwell is huge into golf so that’s obviously a real treat as well. #Blessingz. I never saw Soeur Poznanski on transfer day because I got to Paris a little earlier than most Elders. I am kinda a little camera shy but that’s not the excuse this time. The members are pretty awesome here. They have feed us twice already I think. Not too bad. Our apartment isn’t the nicest but it gets the job done. Elder Adams has done a lil reconstruction on it as well. I cleaned the stove, sink, and shower with some gnarly chemicals. They be lookin like new again. #YouCouldEvenEatOffOfIt. I can’t stand living in a dirty place. One thing I have learned in my short time here is the power of cleanliness. It’s definitely worth it. Dowmtown is about a five minute walk from the apartment. Not to shabby. We have to walk a TON. Honestly like 20 miles a day. Pas une blague. Safe to say my little tootsies are not in the best of shape. They’re bleeding in about three different spots right now haha. But they will live. We have a foot docteur in our ward and I will be visiting him tonight to get another pair of custom orthotics for free. He did some tests lasts week and I failed miserably haha. He’s not really sure what to do because he has never seen feet like mine but ca va. They still get the job done. I could buy new shoes but I don’t want to s[end the money and I don’t really think they will help. I’ll give you more of an update on that next week. I hope I answered all of your questions mom!  #TriedMyHeartest

This week was nuts!  Without a doubt the best week of the mission and my life.  Miracle after miracle has been taking place. I got let into my first house ever while doing port à port! (door to door). It only took about 500 houses before one finally decided to listen haha. And she loved it! We taught the 1st lesson. It was powerful. She was excited to have her own copy of the Book of Mormon and promised us that she would read it. We’ll see here again on Wednesday so I’m pretty pumped about that. She also has two kids and a husband who will be present in the next lesson. #GospelBlessesFAMILIES. And this week we were getting blessed right and left! We taught a lot of lessons and found a lot of new amis de l'église!  The power of prayer, being obedient, and working hard are irreplaceable.  It’s amazing what can happen when we have a goal in mind and work hard  to achieve it! 

And lastly the Français.  My French has come along way but its still nowhere even close to where it needs to be. I can finally talk with people but it doesn’t sound to hot haha. I struggle most days but with time it can only get better. I study my brains out and pray like a madman every day. I can read French without much of a problem now. It’s just my pronunciation that is horrible haha. I am wayyy to American. I don’t know how to say my R's! Its soooo hard. My big head still hasn’t quite figured out how to do it. Sometimes I get a bit discouraged wiff my Français but when i look back its amazing to see how far I have come and how much I have actually learned. It’s not easy but its definitely worth it! Pray for my Français if you have the time! The power of prayer is amazing. 

Well that’s about all I got time for. I could go on for days about all the things I have learned this last week but I don’t have the time. Oh yeah, Elder Anderson is coming to the mission of the 16th.  Every missionary from the mission will be there.  All 170 or so of us. That will be a real treat. Have a good week. Don’t forget to... "Live each day as if you will live forever, for you surely shall!"  That phrase is a life changer.  Think about it. Lovez y’all. 

XOXO... Bises,

Elder Adamz

 

P.S. I missed your other question. Mrs. Guisti is right. There is a huge Cathedral here. Third biggest in the world.  I can’t get enough of it. Sometimes during study time I get lost within its beauty (we have a perfect view of it from our apartment) Its "untrue" beauty but it is still amazing haha. You can see it from anywhere within 50 miles of Chartre I think.  I can’t even explain it, its too amazzzing. I’ll be sure to send some pics. I’ts like the Super Super Super Walmart of any church on earth haha. HUGEEEE.

E-mail 10-29-12

Life is seriously the best. This has been a crazy week full of lots of reflecting on all of the many blessings I have received from my Father in Heaven! Sometimes I get so caught up in learning French, learning how to teach the missionary lessons, learning how to pack my life into 2 suitcases over night, learning how to understand my purpose in life, and just learning how to walk, talk, and breathe like a missionary! These are all good things to get caught up in (I hope) but that’s no reason to forget about the Supreme Being who makes it all possible! These last five months have prayed like a mad man for my Fathers help with French and with many many other things. And he has answered ALL OF THEM. I am sooo blessed and I have learned that my Father in Heaven WANTS to bless me (and all of his children) when I give thanks to Him for all that I have received, when I keep the commandments, and when I read the scriptures. Our degree of gratitude and thanksgiving (coming up soon #excited) is a measure of our love for God! The necessities of food, air, and water all come to us as gifts from our loving Heavenly Father! How grateful I am for the gift of my family!! Eternal life fulfills the deepest longings of the human soul! (and golf). How grateful I am for a loving Heavenly Father who freely, but with much grief and pain, gave his son for sacrifice for all of the world! Because of the atonement, eternal life becomes a possibility for all who qualify! LIFE IS THE BEST. I could go on for days about all of the things I am grateful for but my little fingys aren’t much for typing so I’ll just stop haha. 

Yes I got the ballot in the mail literally 10 hours before I left Charleroi. #Blessing. Hopefully my boi Mitt is doing work.  #HesGotMyVote. I swear the election is bigger here in France then it is the United States haha. People are crazzzzy.  I remember in Charleroi some lady asked, "Are you Mitt Romney's boys." hahaha. Of course I said yes just to make her happy. Give me some updates on that liberal election please. Not that it really matters but so many people here ask us about it so it would be kinda fun to know.

Chartre is so BEAUTIFUL. Like I never say that word so that sorta means something. It is so clean here. (Almost as clean as the city of Fallon when me and Elder Faught were doin big things in our bright green outfitz). It’s definitely been a culture shock coming from Charleroi to Chartre. France is so different. I have soooo much to learn. People can tell I started in Belgium because of the way i speak French haha. Belgium French is "ugly" according to the people here haha. Chartre only has about 40 members or so and is just a branch. The building is small but very nice where we meet. My new companion elder Maxwell is so leggit. I have learned more in these last 5 days then in my entire life. The work has been kinda dead here in Chartre so we got BIG plans to turn the Work around here. It won[t be easy but with the Lord on our side, itz possible! I am excited about the future here. Life rocks!

Sounds like y’all had a good time in Utah. That’s good. You deserve it. Dad said it was negative 3 degrees! That’s flippin cold. I love fishing but I’m not sure it would be worth it in that kinda weather haha, I hope those fish were BIG. So did like a huge cold front hit the United States these last couple of days? It surely has here. I have been wearing tights, two sweaters, and a jacket just to stay warm... and honestly it hasn’t really worked. I have been freezing my tail off these last couple of days. And its only Octobre!! C'est pas bon! Hopefully we get blessed with a little warmer weather this next week haha. 

Well that’s about all. I will try to write you a cute little letter later today if I have time. Stay awesome. Stay neat. Keep on keepin on. Y’all rock. Don’t foeget to give THANKS for all of your many blessings! I know you gotta lot of them (particularly your cute lil French son hahaha je blague!!). Vous étre le meilleur!

Bises,

Elder Adams

E-mail 10-22-12

Thanks for the cute little package! By little I mean big. That thing was HUGE. Thanks for everything. I obviously loved everything but the mini Preach My Gospels are soo leggit! Do they make those things in French yet? If they do that would be a real treat! Merci. Merci. Merci. #LifeChanging. I will keep my eyes peeled for some new shoes but I think I might wait until January when they have "Solds," a huge sale they do once a year in all of Europe. I hope you’re having a good time in Utah. Tell everyone hi. Play some golf for me.

Well these last couple of days have been crazzzzy. My time is up here in Charleroi!  I received news Saturday morning that I’m moving to the City of Love!!!  I will be serving in a suburb of Paris called Chartres. My new companion will be Elder Maxwell. I do not know him or the city I will be living in so I have got a lot of learning to do ehh. Oh yeah and I have a lot of French to learn too haha. The Français here in Charleroi is a little different so it will be fun trying to learn French all over again haha. Well yesterday was pretty awesome. I gave a spiritual thought in Relief Society and in Priesthood and got to give a little talk in Sacrament meeting. It was a real good experience. My French has really been growing and expanding these last couple of weeks. More than I have ever thought possible. It’s amazing what can happen when you’re playing on the Lords side! He wants toooo and willll bless us when we play by his rules! It really is simple.

I really am gonna miss all of the people here in Charleroi. But ca va. The will of God can send me wherever and whenever and I will be happy. I was just starting to get to know everyone better here when the Lord decided to move me haha. The "quiet dinner appointments" and "lessons where I said nothing" the first 8 weeks or so were finally a thing of the past! I was finally getting settled in and speaking French with people... and they actually understood the things that were coming out of my mouth!  I may or may not have cried a little in my parting testimony in sacrament haha. I will forever be grateful for the people in this ward. The patience they had with me and my French was amazing. Our DMP (ward mission leader) and his wife are probably the nicest people I have ever met in the world. I will definitely miss them. They  and Patrick are the best member missionaries I have ever met in my life They are in so many ways like the pioneers of the church who struggled going to Zion. They were some of the first members here some 55 years ago. To be a member here is no easy task. I can’t even imagine all of the things that they have done for the church. LOVE THEM. We will stay in contact for sure. They are taking us to a sweet restaurant tomorrow.  Pretty excited for that haha.

Life is the besttt. I love y’all. Stay awesome. Oh yeah. Elder Andersen is coming to our mission in three weeks I think. I’m stoked for that!

Remember...

When God makes a promise,

It remains forever true,
For everything God promises,
He unalterably will do!
When you are disillusioned
And every hope is blighted,
Recall the promises of God
And your hope will be relighted.

LOVVVE YOUUUU.

Bises,

Elder Adamz

E-mail 10-15-12

Bonjourr!

This week was kinda a mess but ca va! C'est la vie! My toe was super jacked up. It finally got to the point where I couldn’t take it anymore so we took a couple of visits to the doc. The first visit the doc said it would probably take surgery to fix the thing because it was so deep but I didn’t like that idea so we went to another doc. The next one said it could be fixed without surgery; all I had to do was take some gnarly pills! He was right. Turns out it was just super infected and the nail hadn’t grown in too far. With a little digging into my foot, two large pills, prayer, and soaking my foot in some crazy medicine it was miraculously fixed! Yay. Now I can walk like a normal person. We missed a lot of proselyting time due to my stupid bug toe, so I’m glad that is finally over with.  I’ll send some pics of it. It’s pretty neat.

Conference was a bit weird. We watched the Saturday morning session here at 6 o’clock Saturday night. Then we watched the priesthood session, Saturday night, and Sunday morning session all on Sunday here. Only two of them were live feed. The other two were recorded. I still haven’t seen the Sunday afternoon session. Pretty excited for the Liahona magazine issue to come out. The church is a five minute walk from our house #Blessings. Transfer notices come on Saturday. I am pretty sure I will be staying here. I hope so anyway. I love it here. The people are awesome. And of course I love the food as well. After yesterday’s sacrament (fast and testimony meeting) meeting I’m pretty sure I could stay here in this ward forever! The spirit was soooo strong. Honestly I didn’t understand every word that was said from the pulpit (Français) but almost everyone that bore there testimony did it with humility for the lord and for the gift of his son, Jesus Christ.  Everybody was crying, sobbing, and really reflecting on the blessings they have received recently. I hope I never forget that meeting! It was a life changer.

This last week I also had the opportunity to attend the funeral of our Bishop’s mother. It was also a real spiritual builder. Once again not everything that was said from the pulpit made complete sense in my grand tete (big head) but the spirit was soooo strong. The biggest of sinners could have felt it!!  Many people attended who were not of our faith. I know they felt something. Hopefully they have questions for the missionaries! During the funeral I thought a lot about Grandma Hendrix and how her funeral would of went. I’m sure there were many tears of sadness but many more tears of joy.  Grandma is in a better place!  She is in the rest of God who gave her life. How grateful I am for the plan of salvation! I watched many people cry hysterically during the funeral. Theirs were not tears of joy because they don’t have the same knowledge we do. They don’t believe that they will ever see her again. It really is sad. But that’s why I am here in Belgium on a mission. To share with people the plan of salvation! The best plan everrrr.

 

Well that’s about it for the week. Oh yeah, Justin Beiber was in town last week. People were going crazy.  Including me ahhah just kidding.  Every missionary hates him, except for me of course.  Kids got a cute lil voice. I got no reason to hate. I hope ya’llz life is awesome. You deserve it. Love ya to the moon and back.

Elder Adams

E-mail 10-8-12

Sounds like all is well out there in that big cold world! Ca ces schouette! Y’all deserve it! What a week it has been. Conference was a real eye opener and life changer. We were able to watch conference at our church along with other Elders who came from towns that did not have it. Me and my comp were in charge of making sure that the projector and internet were working before each session so people could watch conference. Thankfully all went smoothly. We were in charge of watching the building all day to between each session because all of the Bishopric wereout of town. It kinda stunk but whatever. On Sunday we showed up at the church at nine and didn’t get home till nine. And we forgot to bring food. Worst decision ever. #Starving. Wasn’t conference so amazing? I can remember no conference as influential as this one in my life. EVERY single talk related to something I needed and have been contemplating. The Lord was truly answering my prayers right before my eyes! I could go on for days about the things I learned but I’ll try to stick to a couple of talks.

Of course because I am currently a missionary I loved Elder Nelson’s talk. It was powerfulllll. "Ask the missionaries, they can help you!" Sooo true. I wish all the people here in Belgium heard that one single sentence! haha. We are trying desperately to get into doors and to have the opportunity to share the gospel but these last couple of weeks have been rough. I wish everyone could know what we know as members. "This gospel can help us more than we can possibly imagine." Truthhhh!  Its no easy task but Ii know that if I continue to pray for those that are ready for the gospel, the Lord will send me to them and he will give me power from above so that I can turn their doubts into hope and happiness through the blessings of the gospel!  I think my favorite line from this whole talk though came from the beginning when he said "serving a mission will shape our destiny." How lucky am I! Throughout most of this conference I couldn’t help but think how truly blessed I am to be serving the Lord at this time in my life!  There are a gazillion other things Icould be doin,g but none of them are even close to the importance of serving the Lord full time. #VraitmentBenis.

Another talk I really loved was the first talk of the entire conference by Elder Cook. He really set the tone for the entire conference. I love how he started by letting all of us know how important and strong we really are as a church and as an individual. "Church members, especially our youth, have never been stronger!" I also love how he said it is the missionaries’ job to teach repentance. It is my job to preach repentance in the nicest way possible!  It’s no easy task either but people need to know that they can repent no matter what and become spiritually renewed in the process. What a blessing!!

Christ set the perfect example for us and was put to death in the process. "The death of Jesus Christ marked the beginning of Christian life, not the end!"  This work was not simply killed by killing God! Christ needs me to preach his gospel and defend his faith, no matter whatt!  Like Elder Holland, I too know "this is the work of the Almighty God" and I am so grateful to be able to share his message with the people of Belgium!!  Life really is the best. Conference really showed me how blessed I really am. All we have to do is pause and ponder once in a while and we will realize how much God blesses us each hour of every day!

"We can give people a fish and feed them for a day... or we can teach people to fish and feed them for a life time!"  Have a good week. Go fishing!  You best believe I will be.  Hopefully I catch a few! #Baptisms HAHA.  #NoJokeThough

Bises,

Elder Adams

#143
#Jimmer
#LifeRockz

10-8-12

10-8-12

Sounds like all is well out there in that big cold world! Ca ces schouette! Y’all deserve it! What a week it has been. Conference was a real eye opener and life changer. We were able to watch conference at our church along with other Elders who came from towns that did not have it. Me and my comp were in charge of making sure that the projector and internet were working before each session so people could watch conference. Thankfully all went smoothly. We were in charge of watching the building all day to between each session because all of the Bishopric wereout of town. It kinda stunk but whatever. On Sunday we showed up at the church at nine and didn’t get home till nine. And we forgot to bring food. Worst decision ever. #Starving. Wasn’t conference so amazing? I can remember no conference as influential as this one in my life. EVERY single talk related to something I needed and have been contemplating. The Lord was truly answering my prayers right before my eyes! I could go on for days about the things I learned but I’ll try to stick to a couple of talks.

Of course because I am currently a missionary I loved Elder Nelson’s talk. It was powerfulllll. "Ask the missionaries, they can help you!" Sooo true. I wish all the people here in Belgium heard that one single sentence! haha. We are trying desperately to get into doors and to have the opportunity to share the gospel but these last couple of weeks have been rough. I wish everyone could know what we know as members. "This gospel can help us more than we can possibly imagine." Truthhhh!  Its no easy task but Ii know that if I continue to pray for those that are ready for the gospel, the Lord will send me to them and he will give me power from above so that I can turn their doubts into hope and happiness through the blessings of the gospel!  I think my favorite line from this whole talk though came from the beginning when he said "serving a mission will shape our destiny." How lucky am I! Throughout most of this conference I couldn’t help but think how truly blessed I am to be serving the Lord at this time in my life!  There are a gazillion other things Icould be doin,g but none of them are even close to the importance of serving the Lord full time. #VraitmentBenis.

Another talk I really loved was the first talk of the entire conference by Elder Cook. He really set the tone for the entire conference. I love how he started by letting all of us know how important and strong we really are as a church and as an individual. "Church members, especially our youth, have never been stronger!" I also love how he said it is the missionaries’ job to teach repentance. It is my job to preach repentance in the nicest way possible!  It’s no easy task either but people need to know that they can repent no matter what and become spiritually renewed in the process. What a blessing!!

Christ set the perfect example for us and was put to death in the process. "The death of Jesus Christ marked the beginning of Christian life, not the end!"  This work was not simply killed by killing God! Christ needs me to preach his gospel and defend his faith, no matter whatt!  Like Elder Holland, I too know "this is the work of the Almighty God" and I am so grateful to be able to share his message with the people of Belgium!!  Life really is the best. Conference really showed me how blessed I really am. All we have to do is pause and ponder once in a while and we will realize how much God blesses us each hour of every day!

"We can give people a fish and feed them for a day... or we can teach people to fish and feed them for a life time!"  Have a good week. Go fishing!  You best believe I will be.  Hopefully I catch a few! #Baptisms HAHA.  #NoJokeThough

Bises,

Elder Adams

#143
#Jimmer
#LifeRockz