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