2 Months Gone!!!

Yesterday was my 2 month birthday. It's going too fast!!! I just got here!!! Hermana W and I are going to buy a plant today in honor of it.   

Hermana Adams and Hermana W

It feels like I got here last week!! CRAZY!! I love it here and everyone is so dang nice, willing to open the door for us even if they don't want our message. ("Nah, I already got a church. Hey, wanna come back later for some fried chicken?") It's pretty hilarious.  I meet such interesting people every day!! Like the other week we were knocking on doors and we met a man who was going to become a catholic priest in Kenya, but the school he was at was corrupted and he didn't feel right working for them. He and his wife moved here and are very catholic. We got talking and had a super spiritual experience, and when we were leaving he told us that he felt like he had made 2 new friends. We also met a man from China named J, and he was super cool and we got him a Chinese Book of Mormon (he doesn't read English very good) but he hasn't returned our calls so we can't give it to him >:( Anywhoooo, its really awesome here and there is definitely going to be some baptisms up in here. I can tell that this area has been prepared by the Lord for missionaries.

These Sisters share the same car.

I had a rough week last week. We had so many lessons that had no potential, so many return appointments that never called back or answered the door, it was just so frustrating and I made myself so sick on Saturday that I couldn't even get out of bed hardly. Why on earth was I here for this gospel I love so much if no one cared to hear it from me??? I received a blessing from my DL (Elder L, he's from Jamaica and he is HILARIOUS and can always brighten anyone’s day just with his accent) and his companion (Elder J, also hilarious) and I was able to go to church yesterday and do the work I needed to. 

 We started teaching this really cool guy named P.  P was a name in our phone, so he had been taught before, but we couldn't find a teaching record or anything. When we called him and asked to share a scripture from El Libro de Mormon, he actually got out his copy and read it for us!! It was incredible and we set up an appointment. I was a little unsure of what to expect, and what happened I could not have predicted!!

We got to his house and he let us in (we had a member with us who is from Mexico) and his house was decorated with Chinese stuff!! Like swords and art and everything. He is maybe in his 30's or 40's and super athletic, and he has 2 cats. His thirst for knowledge of the gospel was so genuine I wanted to cry. Anyway, I could see him (I think) how Christ probably sees him and I got so excited to teach him.    He is really interested in the BOM and he marks up his copy a TON. He understands basically everything in an academic way, we just need to help him understand it in a spiritual way. He's Dominican so he talks super-fast and I can hardly understand him, but luckily we brought a member with us, Hermana T, and she could communicate with him pretty well so we weren't dead in the water :) 

 Alabama is way awesome!! Everyone is so nice. The food is amazing, we got fed almost every day last week: taquitos, enchiladas, chicken tacos, beef tacos, then fried rice :) I had 8 tacos at one family’s house and the Hermana kept saying "Where is she putting it???" (in spanish of course) We're serving in 1 of 3 Spanish branches in the whole mission, so I think I'm pretty lucky that I got to go here first.

Quick Pic at the Temple

The other day we had dinner at a members house and on the way back home we stopped by THE TEMPLE. It's a lot smaller than I thought, and we just took pictures and left because it was almost time to go home :)

I love all of you!!

Hermana Adams

I've Got a Dream!

So I'd like to compare my time here to the scene in Tangled when Flynn takes Rapunzel to the Snuggly Duckling and she is terrified of everything and holding out her frying pan and just basically scared to death. But in the end of song I've Got A Dream, she's calling them lovely folks and they all help her out basically. It's so scary here, but usually the experiences end up where I can call them all lovely folks:) For example, we were tracting this apartment complex and no one wanted to hear our message because there was a football game, and we got to this one door and there was a WEAVE of HAIR stuck to the door knocker and I was like "I'm out" but Hermana W was like "Let's keep going!" and we ended up meeting this really cool lady who told us how God had blessed her and we said a prayer with her and got a return appointment!! So it's kind of like Elder Uchtdorfs' conference address 4th floor, last door. 

We had branch conference this week and let me tell you, the Convivio after kicked last weeks ward linger longers BUTT. Mexican food is the best. 

It has been pretty stormy. We have a weather warning thing in our bedroom that goes off if there's hazardous weather and we were on tornado watch a couple of times!! It's not fun to get woken up by it, it makes sure you're awake :P Also the thunder is pretty bad too. It almost always has cleared up by the time we need to get to work though:) We have had to resort to phone lessons sometimes. But they are lessons!! 

One lesson I think I've learned here is that I shouldn't judge the people by the house they live in. I have met so many wonderful people here who have so little, but so much faith!! Almost everyone is willing to talk to you about God, if you ask. They'll tell you their life story if you let them!! 

I love the people out here and I love this work. 

Until next week!! 

Hermana Adams

What a week!

Oh boy. Where do I start?? I didn't email yesterday because it was MLK Day and that is the best time to WORK!! (heads up, if there is a holiday on a Monday where school or work isn't happening, I probably will be emailing on Tuesday.)---------------------------------------------------Hermana Adams goes to the Samford University Library to e-mail. She posed with a sculpture of Ralph Waldo Beeson, a benefactor of the University.

So I flew by myself to the Atlanta Airport where I met maybe 10 other missionaries coming from the Provo MTC. (Apparently there isn't a flight straight from SLC to Birmingham) and then we flew for it felt like 10 minutes over to ALABAMA. We met the president and his wife and then drove to the mission home where we were welcomed by most(all?) of the senior couples that are serving here and LASAGNA for dinner. I really missed ice, they don't give you that at the CCM. The lasagna was so good and I also ate buttered green beans and some banana puddin'. It was so good and I felt like I could go to sleep right then. We had interviews with the mission nurses and President Sainsbury and then they took us to the Marriott and we had a good nights sleep and nice breakfast. I really missed the food here. Seriously.------------------------------------------------ My trainer is awesome. Her name is Hermana W and she is from the Payson area, she's been here for about 7 months. We are assigned to the Altadena area and spanish branch. ---------------Here are some pictures of the apartment bed and desk areas.-----------

Everyone here is so cool!! We met a woman in our complex the 2nd or 3rd day named Miss B and she basically told us her life story and that if she wanted to she could sell her food and make millions. She agreed for us to come and talk to her about Jesus sometime, but hasn't been available so we'll just keep calling :) We are teaching this really cool guy named J, he's been taught by the missionaries before but hopefully this time he will want to be baptized. Anyway, in J's building there is a woman named Miss M that we met while tracting and we spent about 40 minutes listening to her testimony. She isn't LDS, but she has had a life full of miracles and she can testify that God has kept her throughout her whole life. I felt like she was teaching us!! She kept coming back to this point, "You can stand!" meaning that whatever comes your way in this life, as long as you trust in God's will, you will be able to stand. She is so amazing and I really want to teach her or at least come and listen to her testimony some more!!------------------------------------------- Everyone here is so great. Everyone is willing to hear a message about Jesus. I haven't once had someone slam a door in my face! We met a woman from Nigeria named D and she is Muslim, but even she was willing to hear what we had to say.------------------------------------------------- Everyone has called this ABM (America's Best Mission) (Alabama Birmingham Mission) and I BELIEVE IT. This field is so white that it is blinding me. I hope that I can be an effective tool in the Lords hands and harvest.------------------------------------------------------ Thank you all for your prayers and your emails!! I love reading about everything. I love the people here in Alabama and I can't wait to BAPTIZE BIRMINGHAM!!!! ------------------------------------- Love Hermana Adams

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Alabama Birmingham Mission........................................................... Sister Marie Adams has safely arrived in the Alabama Birmingham Mission!------------------------------------------------------------- We are impressed with your daughter and want to thank you for all that you have done in preparing this wonderful young woman for her mission. Attached are photos of Sister Adams, one with President and Sister S,

and one with all the new missionaries at the Mission Home.

She will bless this mission greatly with her enthusiasm and dedication. We love her and pledge our best efforts in directing her service here._________________________________________ Sister Adams has accepted a call that will change her life and the lives of those with whom she is serving. These first few months will be full of new and challenging experiences, and your support in the form of encouraging and uplifting letters will help her greatly._______________________________________________ Our greatest hope is that each missionary has a positive and growing experience, which will help give them a foundation for a lifetime of service to others. We appreciate the time you have spent raising your daughter to be such a responsible young woman. We thank you for your willingness to share Sister Adams with us.________________________________ President and Sister S

Alabama next week!

What a week! So much to say so little time. SO I forgot to mention that the first time we visited the temple, a taxi was going past and the driver saw us and crossed himself. It was actually pretty hilarious.................

I can´t believe I didn´t mention this before but missionaries here eat SO MUCH Nutella that there is a gallon bucket full of it for us in the comedor (dining room). It´s great. Nutella every day.............................

This is where I have had my language study for the last 5+ weeks.............................................. So MoTab is singing at President Trump’s inauguration??....................................................... Presidente T gave us a really good lesson on Sunday about specific prayer, talking about Genesis 24 when the servant is trying to find a wife for Isaac. After that we went back to our casa and I grabbed a package of cookies for that night’s devotional. We went and had another class from Presidente L. We ended that and moved around for choir practice. We sat down, I felt my pocket and the cookies were gone!! I was really sad. We looked after practice and they were nowhere to be found. I remembered the specific prayer lesson and I said, "Heavenly Father, I know cookies aren´t important, but we´re watching The Testaments tonight and now I don´t have a snack. Will you please let someone hand me my cookies after the movie?" and forgot about it after 4 hours. We went to dinner, the movie and it ended. We were getting up to leave, and I heard "Hermana Adams!! We found it!!" Another Hermana had seen us looking for them and found them. She handed them to me and I thanked her. We were so surprised!! I really love chips ahoy, but Iove that Heavenly Father answers our prayers, too...................

I miss the snow, but I am loving the weather here. I have a tan line from my watch and my shoes.............................. Apparently oil prices skyrocketed and the whole country is rioting, so all the temple trips this week were canceled and we´ve been hearing sirens for the past 48 hours!! It´s spooky. But I know that we are protected. I am glad that I got to go to the temple 2 times :) ..........................

Our district's last kinder bueno night................................... I am doing so well! I have grown so much spiritually!! (and about 10 pounds......) it is so great! I really love it here and I can´t wait to go to Alabama............... .... I love you! Hermana Adams