Our trio's down to 2

Transfer news!! So after spending a transfer with the lovely Sister S and Sister B in Corinth, Sister B and I have been moved to Gardendale!! It's been weird/sad to still be with each other but without Sister S (we left her in Corinth)(don't worry she got a new companion). 

But WE LOVE IT IN GARDENDALE. The ward is so awesome and missionary minded. We had the ward Christmas party and it was awesome. They did a talent show and it was so great :) 

The church building where we attend is right across the parking lot of the Birmingham Alabama Temple. In my last area, it was a 3 1/2 hour drive to get here! Sometimes when we're coming or going I catch myself not realizing how lucky I am to be so close to one of God's temples. We talked about signs of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and how while the world is so wicked that He could come right now, the righteous have so much more preparing to do! It's very intimidating to think about but I know that each of us have special skills that God has given us to build up the kingdom of god. 

It's getting colder by the day :) Hopefully we'll see snow before Christmas. Be safe and remember that God loves you :)

Hermana Adams

1030 Grubbs Ave.
Apt. 203

Gardendale, AL 35701

Record Snowfall for Alabama.....

....aaaaand here's your email from Tennessee!! 

Haha, we had NO snow this week. We received a text from the AP's telling everyone that they couldn't drive because of the snow. We were very confused when we looked out the window and all we had was a little frost.

We will be getting the information for our transfers tonight!! The trio will be split up for sure, but we do not know who will go and who will stay!! But you will know by next week. 

Okay so this is going to be another one of those super lame short emails because my creative-ness doesn't work in the cold. But everyone PLEASE be safe and remember that I love you all!!

Hermana Adams

House in Selmer, Tennessee, etc.

Hermana Adams at the Birmingham Temple

Missionaries at the Birmingham Alabama Temple

Hermana Adams' home in Tennessee

Hermana Adams and companions by the Tennessee River

JOY TO THE WORLD

At the Temple!

HAPPY DECEMBER!! There may not be snow here, but the whole south is decked out. It is great :) Sometimes when we're feeling down, we just go to Walmart and walk through the section where they have all the Christmas decorations, and that cheers us right up. 

We got to go to the temple yesterday!! We got home around 8:30 last night, so sorry for the late email. But we had a great time :) I love the temple. 

We had the blessed opportunity to invite 5 people to be baptized! They all accepted, and we are preparing them as much as we can :) it is so amazing to see that change come into their lives and their desire to follow the example of Jesus Christ. 

I will probably be leaving Corinth this next transfer. (so if you are planning on sending anything, please send it to the mission office) I'm a little sad to say goodbye to everyone, but I'm excited for the new adventure ahead of me :) 

Everyone please be safe!! I love you all!

Hermana Adams

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

ALSO I will be celebrating my year mark on wednesday. Yes, 1 year ago I started this great journey!! 

Hermana Adams and Hermana W

So! Thursday! We gave out thank you notes, then went to a members house for Thanksgiving lunch. Then we left there, and had thanksgiving dinner at someone elses' house. Food food food. We then drove back to Birmingham and stayed the night with some sisters there, and in the morning we had Spanish Conference!! It was great. I was reunited with my mom, Hermana W :) the conference just super inspired me to be a spanish missionary whereever I was. We drove back to Corinth that afternoon.

Hermana Adams and Sister B removing tags

On Saturday we ate at someones house and chased one of their sheep for them. They needed the tags off.

Next week we go to the temple!! So I'll be emailing all of you lovely people on Tuesday instead of Monday. 

I LOVE YOU ALL (Y'ALL)

HERMANA ADAMS

Maintaining Companion Unity- (Not just for missionaries)

Happy Birthday Hermana Adams!

Thank you all for the Birthday wishes! It was a great day. We had exchanges in Tupelo, so naturally we went to Olive Garden to celebrate :) We had Zone Conference on Tuesday, and Stake Conference this last weekend, so we spent the majority of our time in Tupelo. We had some really great trainings at zone conference, and I wanted to share what I wrote down from one!

This is 7 ways of maintaining Companionship Unity 

(Not just for missionaries!!! ;)

1. Pray (together, apart, for each other, etc.)

2. Compliment your companion (ESPECIALLY if they're feeling down)

3. Serve Companion (Faith without works is dead)

4. Obedience (Mission rules, commandments, etc.)

5. Loyalty (Don't speak ill of them in their absence!)

6. Communicate

7. Work Hard and Have Fun! (Proverbs 17:22)

I know that all these things are so important in pretty much any relationship! I also know that it's really hard for us to be comforted by the spirit if we're already comfortable. When we work hard to serve others and share the gospel we will be blessed. I know because I have seen it!! I love being a missionary in this mission.

Have a good week!! 

Hermana Adams

91 Deer Trail Cove
Selmer TN 38375

Another week in Tennessissippi

Nothing happened worthy of reporting this week. We had district meeting an they wanted to have it in Corinth so everyone could go to Tennessee (We live in Tennessee. *flips hair*) so that's why we took pictures. 

Christmas is really far away but we went to Dirt Cheap and got a smallish tree for a good price. And we already decorated our whole apartment. There's something magical about having christmas lights in every room

. 

It's getting colder, and I'm so grateful that summer is definitely over. Some mornings we can see our breath!! It's a miracle!

Sorry for the super lame email, hopefully these pictures make up for it. Have an awesome week :)

Hermana Adams

91 Deer Trail Cove

Selmer TN 38375

(on a selfish note: Friday is my birthday. Love you!!)

The Field is White in Mississippi

Hermana Adams, Sister S and Sister B

So I got transferred! I am serving in the Corinth Ward in Mississippi. It is the largest area in the Alabama Birmingham Mission, and they've got a trio to cover it.  We drive a 2017 Toyota Rav4. It's the newest car in the mission. It's pretty neat :) we rotate drivers. We are the only missionaries in Corinth Ward.

So this is how transfer meetings went. President called our name, we stood up, he told us our companion, we made eye contact, and sat back down. Here is how MY transfer news went: "Sister Adams..... your companions aren't here. So I'm not telling you. Just kidding. You are going to serve with Sister B and Sister S in the Corinth area." and I sat back down. So the next couple of hours was me trying to fit my stuff into other peoples cars that were possibly going to Mississippi as well. So I put my stuff in one car and myself in another car and they eventually got me to Selmer (TN).

It has been such a busy last few days. The first few days of a new area always go by in a blur and I can't remember who is who, but I'm grateful that I'll be here for at least 6 weeks to get to know them. The last time I was in a trio was the CCM and it's really cool to see how different these experiences are. 

I love this area and I'm so excited to work here. There was a cotton field across from a dinner appointment we had and I had to take a picture in it :) I know that the field here is SO white and I'm so excited to harvest!! Everyone here just has a huge love for Jesus and God, it is amazing to see. 

Have an awesome week!! 

Hermana Adams

91 Deer Trail Cove

Selmer TN 38375

Happy Fall! Y'all

 and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!! This week has been great :)  

 We started teaching a part-member family, the wife is active and her husband is a non-member. He is really shy and doesn't like meeting new people, but he warmed up to us really fast and he is progressing so much!! It's amazing to watch. I'm a little bummed that I won't be here if he gets baptized, but he's so close!!

They have started doing transfers differently. They give us a call (for example) "Hey Sisters! We have your transfer news. Sister Adams, you're getting transferred. Sister T, you're not getting transferred. See you on Wednesday!" and so it goes for the whole mission. So at transfers we find out where we're going and who with.

My last companion came back to Alabama!! She visited everyone with her Mom. We ate at Cracker Barrel this morning with some awesome members and I just had to take a picture with their Utah license plate :) And I thought I'd share another picture from a few weeks ago because I'm awful at taking pictures. I will repent of that next transfer!!

P-day Activity

Have an awesome week, everyone!! 

Hermana Adams

I ain't tryin' to be rude, but it's time for the walkin' dead

That's what happens when you go tracting on a Sunday evening :) The man who answered the door in this occasion was in his pajamas and kept nervously looking behind him at the TV while we talked. We also made the mistake of knocking on doors during the Alabama vs. Tennessee game on Saturday (Alabama won 45-7-- ROLL TIDE!!) And one man was less than receptive of our message we had to share with him :)

We had a lot of awesome experiences to serve the people of the Talladega branch this week. We don't have many people to teach right now, so we're using our time serving :) We made a document full of all the things we know about the branch, and we have been finding less-active people and trying to strengthen their faith and help them come back. One day we spent about 2 hours making and delivering cookies to people! 

We had one 1st councilor in the mission presidency, President Ford, come and speak to the Talladega branch last week. He told the branch that finding was their job, and teaching was the missionaries job. But if all the missionaries did was teach, they would have a lot of spare time on their hands! So he encouraged the members to help the missionaries find, because that was their job. He said that 1 out of 1000 doors knocked will end up in baptisms, but it only takes 1 in 4 member referrals to end in baptism. It felt like President Ford was scolding the branch the whole time! But already this last week we've been able to give extra Book of Mormons to members who want to give them away to their friends and family. 

I know that this work is so important!! I love being a missionary in the Alabama Birmingham Mission!! Thank you so much for all the support you give me. I can really feel your prayers. Have an amazing week!!

Hermana Adams

Zone Activity

Noccalula

Okay, it's kind of sad the coolest thing I can think about to write happened today. We had our Zone Activity!! We drove to Gadsden and saw the Noccalula falls. It was very cool. Noccalula was a Cherokee princess who was being forced to marry a man she didn't love. She was in love with someone else, and so on her supposed wedding day she jumped off of the falls. It's a sad story, but it is a beautiful area and we had a good hike.

Flags at Talladega

It's getting colder! It was 50 degrees this morning. It was incredible. <3 I love the weather in Alabama. We drove past the raceway and saw these enormous flags!! We totally avoided Talladega all weekend so we wouldn't hit the traffic. But it was pretty cool :) 

Okay, I really don't have much else to write. I love you all!! Have an awesome week!! 

Hermana Adams

What I lack in words..

I make up for in pictures? 

While tracting, we found an old creepy building and we went inside. Don't worry, we're safe.

At the Gladys Knight devotional, the church bathrooms were closed
and they had the fanciest port-o-potties I've ever seen.
I think they're called 'jazzy johns'. so that was cool

This week was awesome because GLADYS KNIGHT came to the Bessemer stake center with her choir (Saints Unified Voices) and it was AWESOME. They sang a bunch of gospel music, and the whole chapel and gym was packed all the way up to the stage. It was amazing to hear her testimony and to feel the spirit. We got to the Bessemer sisters apartment around midnight and crashed. Then we got up the next morning and drove back to Oxford :) 

Church was cancelled yesterday because of hurricane Nate. These darn hurricanes. Yep I am definitely lacking in words. 

We found these creepy halloween masks at Target

I love you all! Have an awesome week!! 

Hermana Adams

Sister T

General Conference!

Sorry for the hiatus, y'all! I loved General Conference so much. I wrote down so much. I am so grateful that we have modern revelation. 

I have a new companion!! Sister T has been on her mission for 16 months. It has been 2 weeks of hard work for us :) We had an investigator accept a baptismal date for the end of the month and we're super excited. 

Funny Story of the Week:

Our apartment is right next to Oxford lake, which has a lovely walking path around it. It is abundant with cute ducks and some not so cute ducks (demon ducks, we call them) ( I just looked it up. Muscovy ducks) and we decided one morning to feed them. So we're giving bread to the ducks on the shore when this mama duck comes up with like 14 babies. They were so cute!! We were feeding them and my companion says "I wanna grab one" and I thought she was kidding so I just laughed. Next thing I know, she GRABS a baby duck out of the water. I was so surprised, but I kind of wanted to touch it, so I reached over to pet its head. But mama duck didn't like that. So that morning we got attacked by a duck. I screamed and fell over, and all the other people walking on the trail were probably judging us pretty hardcore. Moral of the story: Don't pick up baby ducks. 

Have a wonderful week! Like Jose L Alonso said, Love without service is like faith without works- dead! Serve those that you love.

 

Hermana Adams

I hope this isn't becoming a habit...

So, Hermana Adams did not send anything for her blog this week.  Alas, she wrote woefully little to any of her family.  I will tell what little I know about her this week.

Transfers were this past week.  Her companion, Hermana K, completed her mission and went home.  She stayed in Oxford, and has a new companion.  She is Sister T.  She is not a Spanish speaking sister, but English.  When they put the languages together, they call them a zebra companionship.  Hermana Adams was able to watch the Women's Session of General Conference on Saturday night.  She loved it.  She especially liked the talk that quoted President Kimball's 1979 talk.  "Much of the major growth that is coming to the Church in the last days will come because many of the good women of the world (in whom there is often such an inner sense of spirituality) will be drawn to the Church in large numbers. This will happen to the degree that the women of the Church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and to the degree that the women of the Church are seen as distinct and different—in happy ways—from the women of the world."

Marie would love to get a letter from you.  Her current address is:

Hermana Marie Adams
20 Carriage Lane
Apt. 8
Oxford, Al     36203

Thanks,
Naunie

A Road Trip and a Rainbow!

A few tidbits from other letters:

We keep knocking on doors that have cute little wooden 'happy fall y'all' on them. It makes for good conversation. 

 It was cold for a few days, I even wore a sweater once, but now it's back to HOT (Thanks to Irma)

We pranked the Elders here by putting glitter in their car vents and pointing them towards where there faces would be.  Then we all had a meeting last night, and I sat behind one of them and there was glitter all over them.  It was really funny.  They got us back though.  They got into our apartment and put glitter EVERYWHERE.  

And... what she wrote for the the blog:

Road trip.... for a meeting.

So we had to drive to Bessemer last night for a meeting. 
I took too long emailing others, and now I don't have enough time to finish this one. But enjoy the pictures!!! Have a good week!

Hermana Adams

Alabama!

I'm really bad at coming up with subject lines. Just pretend it's something clever. 

So this week we had a baptism!! A wonderful family has been coming back to church, and they had their 8 year old son baptized. I helped teach him some of the lessons. It is very different from teaching an adult. But on Saturday we came and filled up the baptismal font (and cleaned it. there were lots of spiders). It was so amazing. His dad baptized him and gave him the Holy Ghost, and he got all choked up during the blessing. The spirit was so strong there, it was amazing. So that was my first baptism!! 

Also this week, I HIT MY 9 MONTH MARK!! It is so crazy. I can't believe I've already been here for 9 months. I have learned so much here! I love meeting so many new people. This has been the most wonderful few months of my life :) I hope that the next are even better. Mom sent me a package full of camel stuff, so here I am with all of it on my half-way mark :)

I hope all of you are doing well and I hope that this week is amazing for all of you!! I love you!!

Hermana Adams

Hola a todos!

I'm so sorry but this week I did not take any pictures. Not that Oxford is boring, but it looks just like every other town I've been in :) Just good ol' Alabama. 

This week we had Zone Conference, and Elder Christensen of the Seventy came and spoke to us. It was really cool. I left my notes in the apartment, but he reminded us about the short talk that President Monson gave this last conference about how we need to read the Book of Mormon! If he is so ill that he can only deliver a tiny discourse, it must have to be an important topic, right??? 

Elder and Sister Christensen are both really awesome people. We were all super excited to have them in our mission for a few days :) 

We don't have very much more time!! I love all of you!! Have a good week, talk to you on Tuesday! Happy Labor Day! :)

Hermana Adams

Pictures! Some from Hermana Adams, thanks Google Maps!

Okay, so Hermana Adams did not write anything this week for her blog.  So, I (Naunie) am taking this opportunity to share some things she has not written, and some pictures.

A few weeks ago Hermana Adams talked about a Tractor Fair,
and taking a little goat around on a leash while they talked to people.

Hermana Adams' new companion is Hermana K (far right)

Apartment in Oxford, AL

Church Building in Talladega, AL
They attend an English speaking branch.

Talladega is famous for its Superspeedway.
Hermana Adams will not be attending any races. ;-)