June 10, 2013

Mother, that’s awesome that schools out.  Parttttyyy!!!   Sounds like you are gonna have a really good summer. Have fun in Utah and in Nashville. Sorry I forgot to put captions with the photos I sent.  The first one was during an exchange in St Dié.  We had to drive over some huge gnarly mountains.  It was way cool.  It reminded me a lot of Smith Creek.  And the other ones were from the baptism we had on Saturday!!   It was awesome.  Soeur Mackoy is the best.   She was all smiles.  The spirit was strong.  Couldn’t have went better.  Her confirmation went super as well.  The Bishop did both the confirmation and the baptism. (so much better when members do it). He’s a boss.  Love him.  It was funny... it’s been so long since they had a baptism here that they forgot how to welcome a new member in the ward (they almost forgot to sustain her during sacrament, when you raise your right hand).  But with the help of the church handbook they got it done right haha.  So good.  Hopefully you like the pics.  

 

I won’t send much of an email this week because it takes a long time to load and send photos.  Hope you like them.  Life is the best.  The Lord is really progressing the work here in France.  I’m so lucky to be apart of it.  I am blessed!  I am the luckiest dude on earth.  Oh and tomorrow we are going to Paris at five in the morning for Zone conference.  Elder Ballard is supposed to be there (if he fix's his passport prblems!!!)   So sweeeeet.  Can’t wait to get humbled and feed.  Life is tooooo goood.  I can’t say it enough!   Have a good week. Thanks pour tout.  Que Dieu vous bénisssssse!! 

Elder Adams

June 3, 2013

I can’t believe its already June.  Time flies way to fast.  My one year mark was just another day.  Nothing special haha. Burning ties and stuff like that is dumb. President and Soeur Poznanski hate it as well so none of that stuff is supposed to be going on in the mish anymore.  Actually I lied... Elder Webber bought me a  That was nice of him.  Thanks for the package!  Pretty clever candy bar poster mom. You never cease to amaze me with your clever ideas. Thanks again. kebab and a coke . So good. One of my favorite meals.

That’s crazy that Mitchell, Kevin, Hubs, and others all get home this month.  Sooner than I would like that is going to happen to me!  Not cool.  The day my year mark hit, it really hit me that time is not a joke out here in the field... it needs to be used for good every second of every day.  NO time for breathing!  Speaking of using time wisely...I must tell a little story:  So usually when transfers happen missionaries get to there new villas late (with only a couple of hours left) and go directly to unpacking instead of directly outside to find people to teach and baptize.  Well three weeks ago when Elder Webber and I arrived we found the house, left our bags, and headed outside to find, teach, and baptize. We are now seeing the fruit of this decision!  That night of finding we found a lady named Blessing (funny I know haha) who we have been teaching... and now she will be baptized! (the 16^th )   Time ain’t no joke y’all.  When we use it right... we are blessed for it.  We could’ve easily called it a day and unpacked but that’s not okay!!   Gods elect are out there waiting.  And this Saturday as well we have a baptism.  Its gonna be awesome! She is married to a member of the ward.  She was taught by the missionaries 10 years ago but wasn’t really feeling it.  So the first Sunday we got here the Bishop called us into his office and asked us to visit them.  So we did of course.  Well after ten years she is now prepared!   All she needed was someone holding the authority of God to ask her to be baptized!   She is amazing. It’s been fun these last three weeks teaching her and helping her prepare for baptism.  She is beyond ready. That will be an awesome day!  Her interview is Wednesday.   She should do just fine.

This week we had three amis at church!  This transfer we have really been focusing on getting all of our new amis to church (our zone has been tearing it up as well with amis at church).  And we taught 17 lessons this week!  I know stats are not important but hawt dang I feel like I’m in South America! haha.  Strasbourg is the most prepared place in the world for the gospel... I’m convinced!   Our goal for this transfer is four baptisms and so far we are on track.  Setting goals, praying mightily over them, and working yer tail off do a dang lot of good.  The work in France is really hastening. It’s been amazing to watch my first year. This last week the mission taught 550 lessons.  The highest number in the mission’s history.  Pretty sweet.

Well I need to go play some basketball. (first time in a year!). Have a good week. Thanks for all of your prayers.  The church is true.  I know it is!   Read the Book of Mormon and then wrestle with God to get an answer.  It always works.  100 percent of the time.  Read the Book of Enos. It’s my favorite. Short and sweet.  Clear and simple.  Just the way I like it.  Read it and ask yourself how Enos was able to receive revelation... then put it to the test yourself.  LUVZZZZ.  BON SEMAINE.

PICS WILL BE SENT SOON MOTHER.

Elder Adamz

May 20, 2013

Life is crazy. I am currently sitting in a crazzzy internet/drug dealer place where we now do our emails. The guy next to me smells like dog pee and is looking at things on his computer that are very inappropriate. I think you catch my drift ehh? haha. I don’t have too muchh time. But let me just tell this was the best week ever.  Elder Webber is such a bossss!  The kid knows what he’s doin in life.  He is from Orem.  He played Rugby for BYU.  His French is amazing. He is way to legit.  I am so pumped for this transfer. I got so much to learn and I’m pretty excited about it.

Our new area is about a 2.5 hour trip on a bullet train from Paris.  Not quite as far as St Brieuc. It’s such a cool looking place. Probably the most beautiful place I have ever visited.  Sometimes its hard to contact because there are a gazillion cool things to look at... but don’t worry I know why I am here. And yes they speak a ton of German here. It sounds pretty crazy.  I think I will just stick with French for now. Learning another language doesn’t interest me at alllll haha. Not sure if I mentioned but we got whitewashed here... so we are always lost. But thats okay... makes for some good times. I have never ever seen so much success in sucha short amount of time!  We have only been here 5 days and we have already found 4 new amis!  That’s like a world record.  The Lord has blessed us so much. White Washing isn’t easy but we are certainly being watched over and blessed.  I am one blessed dude.

Our new apartment is huge!  So sweet. In downtown Strasbourg next to the big river and huge cathederal.  I will be sure to send you some pics next week. Sorry I don’t have any now.

That’s sweet that Elder Oaks came. I bet you learned a lot. He will be coming to Paris the eleventh as well.  But he is only coming to see the Elders who are in the Paris area.  Such a bummmmerrr!   But I will live.  NO big deal.  This week the mission had the first ever "mission council" instead of a "zone leader council."  That’s because they called sisters to be leaders now!  First time sisters have had calling as missionaries I think?   Pretty cool.  They are needed... there are a ton of sister missionaries now a days.  The meeting was way cool.  The mission is headed in a good direction.  Its fun to watch month after month all of the success and progress the mission makes.  The new thing as a mission this transfer is getting our investigators to church!   SO IMPORTANT.  Nothing happens until they come. We get to teach and expound on this subject tomorrow with our entire zone who will be coming into Strasbourg. Should be a good time.  I’m pretty pumped about it.  Most of the villas in our zone are very small and missionaries have been white washed so the work is pretty tough.  This last week they really struggled. We will have to light them on fire tomorrow so they can get the work movin!

Well I am out of time.  I really do have lots more time to write but if you saw this place I’m in you would want me to get out to haha.  Safe to say the spirit isn’t here.  Gotta run!  Have a good week y’all! Stay awesome.  LOVE YOU.

Package... I could use some batteries. (AA) Some photos!  Some recipees (not sure how to spell that). Any high lighters will do. Sticky notes. Get some cool designed ones. LOVES.

May 27, 2013

Yello!  Happy late 29th anniversary!  Y’all are old.  Yo we do not live by the A in the photo you sent. We live close though. The building just above the one with the A is a school and we live just across the street from it.  Where it says Ernest Munch on the road.... we live right above that on the left side of the road.  Our apartment is huge.  To answer your question... they made it a new zone leader villa because there are a ton of new missionaries and the mission added two new zones to adjust to the amount of missionaries.  And no we do not have a car. Thank goodness!  Now I can drop a few pounds hopefully. Willards gettin fat again!   Pas bon. We have passes for the metro and for the buses so we get around anywhere fairly quickly. Public transportation is the best!   You meet a lot of peepz on the trams and what not so I think its a lot better to not have a car.  You can’t meet anyone going  90 down the freeway in a car!  Oh yeah did I ever tell you I got nailed by the POPO (police) when I was in St Brieuc. The ticket was 90 dollars. So that’s probably why I took out a lot of money out a couple of months ago. Sorry about that. You can’t get mad though okay?  Saving souls is kinda important!  Sometimes you gotta go a little over the speed limit ya feelz?   Being late for rendezvous is not okay!   And yes I was a smart alec with the cop so he doubled the fine. Oopz. I was only going 6 over!  What a joke.

This last week was a dream!  So much good going on in Strasbourg.  Church is so true here!  Missionary work is always hard work no matter where you are but I must say missionary work in a large villa seems to be so much more easy and rewarding!  I was blessed to have served in three small villas to start my mission (learned so much) but I must say it feels like I’m in SOUTH AMERICA!   Things be poppin here. Today we saw a family from Provo haha. They were super funny. We see quite a few Americans here.  Last week there were like 100 students from Boston College. They gave us a good hard stare for like thirty minutes while we had a lesson with an ami on a bench.  Americans are intimidating haha. Not a big fan for the time being.

Yesterday we had an awesome stake conference.  It was a spiritual punch to the face.  We had two members of the seventy come and talk and an area seventy. They called a new stake presidency.  It was super cool.  The seventy got up at the end of the conference and told the story of how they called the new stake presidency.  After interviewing many people both of the seventy wrote on a piece of paper the three men they felt should fill the new positions. I’m sure you know what happens haha.  They had the exact same three men written in the exact same order!  Revelation is a powerful thing my friends!  Do we use it?  It’s a must.  God wants to and is waiting to help us!   This is a living church. W are never alone.

So this last week I had my first Zone conference as a leader. We gave a super good training.  I was a shepherd.  I wish I would’ve took pictures but I didn’t.  Désolé.  La prochain fois.  We taught a legit lesson on the importance of bringing amis to church. If they don’t come to church nothing happens!  And before that we must find amis because if we don’t have any amis... we can’t bring them to church! This last weeks statistics doubled!   The new zone is tearing it up.  So fun to be apart of it and to help them all.   Being a leader is a humbling experience. I have learned so much...and I have so much more to learn.

Today is the first day we have seen the sun since we got here. It’s been dang cold. Rain rain rain. So annoying,  but whatevers.  Hows the weather over there?   Hot yet?  I think that’s all from this side of the world.  Love y’all.  Que dieu vous bénisse!  LUVZ.

Adamz Elder

May 13, 2013

Hello. Yesterday was awesome (Mother’s Day phone call). Thanks for that and thanks for being organized!   We actually got to talk for an entire hour this time! haha. Everyone is doing so well. I am the luckiest missionary in the world. I have the best support system anyone could ever need. All of my neices and nephews are so legit too. They are hilarious. Can’t wait to bisous them after the mish. Yesterday after we hung up it really hit me how blessed we are as an entire family, me especially. Everyone is doing what they should be in life. Mom and dad; y’all aced the test called life!  Almost... (after Garrett gets married in the temple, then you can relax).  Its obviously because of you two that all of us are so golden!  (I speak for the children). And no I didn’t forget me. We all know there is no worries here ;) lolz

Thanks for finally hitting me up with Garrett’s loverz photoz.  Shes’ a cutie. I approve. My bro is a stud.  Bout time he got his act together.  I’ll be praying he is married before I get home #LivinThatDream.

So to the important stufff haha. I will be leaving again! I am going to the wonderful city of Strasbourg!  This ville is seriously every France missionaries dream. I can’t wait. And I am going to be a zone leader!  I got to do things bigger and better. Pretty pumped for it. Seriously right after you guys hung up on skype President gave me a call and filled me in on the deetz.  You barely missed!   That would have been cool to tell you in person but whateverz not that big of a deal. And I will be opening a new zone!  With the huge influx of missionaries we had to create two new zones and Strasbourg is one of them. I will be living right on the edge of Germany. So I’m pretty sure I will get to learn a little German. That should be neat. I am seriously sooooo excited!!!   Life is the best!   Oh and my new comp is Elder Webber.  He is legit I  hear. He will be training me. And we are getting whitewashed! (we both know nothing about Strasbourg).   Life is about to be popppppin. Whenever I get comfortable.... I get humbled. haha. Don’t get comfortable peepz.

I am really gonna miss good ole St Brieuc. Its been fun watching the ville (town) do a 180° turn.  So many miss conceptions about little villes. The work is a little harder but so rewarding and so possible! Its so fun having a branch of 25 members and you get blessed to bring 5 amis to church.  Everyone is like a kid in a candy store. They do everything to help bring amis to church. They take such good care of us missionaries.  People are much more personable in little branches. Everyone one knows everyone and everyone loves everyone!  I am seriously going to miss the members here so much.  Being their little translator for the last 5 months was fun haha. I have learned so much here. Training Elder Davis was so good for me.  I got blessed with a legit bleu. He knew what he was doing before he came.  He is a killer missionary.  He will tear the mission up.  It was fun showing him how missionary work gets done.  Its crazy how teaching someone else how to do missionary works actually teaches the you even more haha.  These last 12 weeks have been the hardest but  most rewarding in my life. I couldn’t even begin to explain all of the things I have learned.  I am BLESSSSSED.

Love you all!   Have a good week.  Que dieu vous bénisse!

Love,

Elder Adamz

Email May 6, 2013

Hello. I will just start by saying that this was easily the best week of my mission and of my life. I have probably said that before but this time I really mean it! You’re probably thinking it was the best because I saw Bishop and Kenna... true... but no... that was just the icing on the cake. We could not do anything wrong this week!  The lord was literally changing peoples hearts right before our eyes!  L'esprit était partout!   Okay, okay I will stop. I will answer your questions first and then I will go hard with the spiritual stuff. 

The shoes fit perfectly. Thank you! The peanut butter has changed our life. Thank you! And yes I could’ve chose anywhere in France to eat but KFC sounded so good!!!   I pass it everyday in our car and it always  Oh and don’t worry about sending peanut butter anymore. I saw that that was a little expensive (aka a lot). But thanks anyways! The watches are super legit as well. Thanks pops! I will bring the swagg with those things for sure. Sounds like y’all had a grand time in Utah again. I’m pretty sure you live there.  The last three months you guys have emailed me from Utah I feel like more than Fallon.  Buy a house there?   That’s cool that Garrett found himself a girl. About time. I hope they’re married before I come back.#OnlySingleAdamsME I want to be the only single stud in the family.  Send me a picture of her (facebook creep or whatever it takes). I have to approve before he goes makin some stupid decision ya know?   Hooke me up with a photo next week please.   Can’t wait to here from you on Sunday! That will be neat. I’m still not 100 percent what is going to happen. We have some options. I am pretty sure we will skype. That would be the funniest.  Send me Garrett’s code and stuff again so I can log into his name. That would be best. We will call here around three in the afternoon or would you like us to do it later?   You let me know. We can probably do it any time after Noon here in France (anytime between twelve and nine). I will probably not call you on Saturday but I will email you and let you know what’s going down.   Keep an eye on your emails.   Let me know what time works best for you.  And they just changed transfer emails to a day later so I will not be able to tell you where I am going or if I am staying until Monday emails. Bummer!

makes my mouth water... so I figured we would just go eat it real quick so I could get that fantasy out of my head. And yes it wasssss sooo goood. Way better here then in America.

This week was one I will never forget. The spirit was with me and my companion in all that we did.  His presence was so obvious!  Even a blind man could’ve seen it. Everything we did the spirit testified to us was right and that’s where we needed to be. I have never seen so many miracles in my little life.  I will share but one....

We had a new lady from Canada move into the ward three weeks ago. She is so outgoing and she very easily opens her mouth and shares the gospel with others!  And that’s exactly what she has done.  This week she invited us to her house... along with 6 other people that she has just recently met (not members) to have dinner. The first hour we all got to know each other and just talked about random things. They all brought wine to the dinner so about an hour into the dinner they all started acting pretty weird (a little drunk, but not too bad).  They were very rowdy... It’s safe to say the spirit wasn’t present. Once in a while they would even poke a little fun at Mormons.  We thought the dinner was going to be a complete waste.  Well our hour and half (our time limit) was about up and we knew we needed to get going so amidst  all the craziness we asked if we could share a quick spiritual thought. They accepted. They wished they hadn’t!  So we stood up and shared Helaman 5:12.  At this point all eyes are on us and no one is saying a word.  After we read we quickly testified of Jesus Christ  and what he has done for ALL of us. We testified of what building our foundation upon him can do. The spirit completely took over the little house.  The atmosphere completely changed (I have never seen an atmosphere change soooo quickly). It’s something that I really can’t even explain.  The thought was seriously no longer then 2 minutes!  It’s kind of a  "you had to be there" experience.   I have never felt the spirit so strong.   So the story goes on.   Just as we were leaving one of the ladies sneakily followed us out and told us that she wants us to come over to her house and share the gospel (didn’t see that one coming).  We gladly accepted, but as soon as she said that she quickly slipped back into the house without letting everyone else know she was talking to us.  We didn’t even have time to get her number and address!  So the whole drive home we were talking about how crazy strong the spirit just was and we hope something will come of what just happened.  SOOOO. Joe, the member called us the next day and explained that after we had left they talked nonstop about the gospel and about the missionaries.  Well, to make a long story short.... they all want to see us again.  ALL 6!   Not just a couple but all of them. And Sunday morning (two days later) we received a call from one of the couples who were there wanting us to come to their house. We are going there today!  Oh and the husband of the couple we are going to see today was one of the highest generals in the England army.  He was the one that was making fun of Mormons and Utah during the RDV.  When we shared our spiritual thought... it was him that got punched in the face with the spirit! I remember the look in his eyes.  I’m pumped for today to see him again!

Well that is just one of the overwhelming amount of miracles the Lord has been blessing us with. Thanks for your prayers and your support. I promise you I am working my hardest to answer all of them!   Church is true.  Every ounce of it.  Don’t forget it.  I testify Christ lives and he stands at the head of his church. He is willingly, wantingly, and ready to help each and everyone of us if we but keep his commandments and follow his example!  The gospel is sooooooo simple.  Don’t make it harder then it should be y’all.  I know God sent me to France for a reason.  To testify of Christ and to change all who will listen.  I’m the luckiest kid alive. Thank you for all who have helped to prepare me for this time in my life!   #ForeverGrateful.  Have a good week. Bon semaine.

Elder Adams

E-mail 4-29-13

Mother!  You’re alive. Glad to hear that all is well. You had me worried with no email last week. Technology gets the best of us sometimes... I understand.  Shoes- If you have the exact same shoes (hush puppies) size eleven would be better but honestly it doesn’t matter.  I will make them work. My feet are all callused up so I will be just fine. Maybe you could send some brown sugar and chocolate chips with Bishop too. I need it for cookies. And maybe some high lighters as well.  Mine don’t work anymore.  That’s about all that I could think of. Thanks for sending the peanut butter. Can’t wait to manage it. 

I sent Bishop an email with an answer to his questions and other stuff. Not to worry. And yes you can come to Paris and pick me up. Many parents do it.  That is not a problem at all. President is cool with it.  Save up your money!  Like lotssssss of money. It ain’t cheap going on vacation here in France... easily the most expensive place in the world haha.  Last week I went to McDonalds to get some chicken nuggets... only 4 of them... with a tiny little drink and tiny fry... and it cost 8 dollars!  Imagine what it will cost to ride a train or a rent a hotel room.  Stuff isn’t cheap!   Save uppppp.

Oh yeah in two weeks I will get to see your beautifully smiling faces on skype. That will be neat. I think I could easily be transferred next transfer but that doesn’t happen until the 15th so no worries there.  I will still be here in St Brieuc.  We will have the news the 11th of what is happening though so I will be able to let you know in person.  We have a couple of members here who have skype I believe. I will have to let you know next week.  And yessss its pretty crazzzy to think I have almost been out for one year.  Don’t remind me please.  Time flies by way to fast.  Kinda scary.  Hopefully it starts to slow down a little.

That’s cool that Garrett is back to work in North Carolina.  He will probably be knocking on doors just like me ehh?   My reasons way better though.   Sorry I’m not sorry haha.  I’m sure he will make bank again though.   That’s always a good time.  Make sure he sends me a little of it.  I could find plenty of things to spend it on.

This last week has been crazy.  Elder Davis had to do his legality in Belgium so I shipped him off by train and I stayed in Rennes with the zone leaders for a couple days.  It was a good time.  I learned so much.  My zone leaders are a couple of studs.  Elder Neilson has been my zone leader for 5 of my 7 transfers.  He follows me everywhere.  But that’s okay.  He has taught me so much. The Lord has definitely blessed me with good leaders.  The work is really progressing here in Bretagne. I am stoked to be apart of it.  So many other good things happened this week.  Where to start?   Our ami Joelle wants to be baptized!  She’s not sure when but she is sure she wants to be baptized.  We were teaching a lesson with a member on Wednesday and the member testified that she knew the first time she met the missionaries she knew what they had came from God and she needed it.  Joelle testified to us a couple of days later of the same thing!  She said that she knows that everything we have taught her is the truth.  She has completely stopped drinking tea and coffee!  She has read the Book of Mormon almost everyday for three months!   She has been to church for three months without missing!  She hasn’t missed a Relief Society activity once and she watched all of conference!  She has only known the church for 4 months and it has completely changed her life.  She is the most amazing lady I have ever met.  Most 70 year old people are pretty stuck in there ways in life..... but not when the gospel enters into there heart.  Funny story. I have learned that what we do when we are bored really tells what kind of person we are (think about it)... Joelle got bored last week because it was to cold to go outside to go on a walk... so she decided to read all of 3^rd  Nephi!   She said it was way awesome. Pretty good thing to do when you’re bored ehh.  Soo when your bored yall... read the scrips!  Don’t do stupid things (stupid things happen when peepz get bored).

I could go on for days about all the things that have been happening but I need to get going. I got a quick question... Do you see the difficulties in every opportunity or opportunities in every difficulty? Think about it.  Difficulties rock.  Rock them!   Have a good week.  Grossss bisous!  Bon semaine!

Elder Adamz