Monday, December 24, 2012

Winter Adventures Have Begun

Merry Christmas Eve!  I just got off the phone with you, Mom, to set up the time to Skype.  I am so excited! Thank you for the pictures that you emailed me I love getting to see you guys. I sent a package last Monday with a little gift in there for you  and Erika and Dad.  I hope it got there okay and everything. This past week so many crazy things have happened. I'll start with the mellow stuff so you have to read through the email to get to the good stuff. Ha ha :)

Last Monday night we had a family home evening event at the Smith Farm.  We caroled from the log home, down Stafford road to the frame home. In the log home Elder and Sister Fuller was there reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" (no beer involved this time.. haha) and then Elder and Sister Poulson were in the frame home reading Luke 2.  It was such a neat thing.  (The Poulsons are from Ephraim and they have the old freezer that was in the old malt shop! I told them that my Nane Sue and Papa John ran that shop for a while- they thought that was pretty cool.) Then In the barn the elders were there playing old fashioned games that the Smith Family would have played. We caroled back to the welcome center and had cookies and hot cocoa.  It was so amazing to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ at a place where he appeared. The Spirit there that night was a sweet one.  AND I got to see Sister Butters and Lindsay and Bishop and Sister Wildey and Danae and all the people I love from the Lyons Ward. I was so happy especially to see Lindsay. She is doing so good. 

Tuesday nights is when Fayette Ward has there ward scripture study so instead of meeting at the church we came down to the Seneca Lake Girls camp.  Sister Breinholt made cookies and wasil and we caroled and had a Christmas scripture study here at the main house at the camp.  It was so awesome.  I am really starting to love the Fayette Ward. I love our little posse that comes to scripture study each week. Mary came and she shared her testimony. It was so beautiful and powerful. Lea, our new investigator came too! She loved it.

We had the Christmas Zone Conference with President and Sister Christianson on Wednesday.  It was a spirit filled day and my heart was truly touched. We had a training on how we can learn to be a missionary like Jesus Christ was. Being a missionary is rough at times, but it is so worth it.  I decided that whenever I feel discouraged or rejected that I am going to be grateful. Grateful that I get to feel a tiny fraction of an ounce that the Perfect Missionary experienced in His life, ministry, and atonement He performed- because it brings me closer to Him.

Thursday was also a special day. We got to go to the temple and do a session at the same time Logan Graham went through for his first time. I was so thankful that it worked out and that Logan wanted me to be there.  Sister Graham hugged me twice after the session- once for Logan and once for her haha. I love their family so much. Logan is going to be a rock star of a missionary. Brother Graham came and waited in the lobby with Laurissa and Jake.  So I got to see them when we got out.  Laurissa feel into my arms and started sobbing and then it made me tear up. She is such a special girl and it was very obvious that we miss each other.  It was nice to see the Grahams (my mission family) while I am away from my own family this time of year. 

So here is the funny part of the week.  Have you ever been stuck in a ditch full of snow? Well... Sister Earl and I have! Hahah oh my goodness it was insane.  So we had some pretty intense snow storms here and we really needed to get to the Seneca Lake Girls Camp to make cinnamon rolls with Sister Breinholt to take to our investigators, less active members, and recent converts for Christmas. So Sister Earl was driving very carefully and slowly down the back roads to get to the girls camp.  The snow drifts were crazy and at times there was complete white out. So we get down by the lake almost to the camp and at this point Sister Earl is getting a little more comfortable so we were going like 20 mph and all the sudden this huge branch is in the middle of the road.  So she slammed on her brakes, veered around the branch, off of the black top, and then when we started to slip she over corrected and we slid directly into the snow bank.  All the sudden Sister Earl was up in the air, I was near the snowy ground, all of the stuff in our van was on my side of the car, and our van was sideways! So many people stopped and checked on us and kept telling us we would need a tow truck to get out. So we called Elder and Sister Breinholt and before we know it they are coming down the road in their mid-sized SUV. Now, this is how cool the Breinholts are:  Immediately Elder Breinholt attaches a rope to our bike rack and his car and Sister Breinholt jumps in the ditch and has powder up to her waste and starts digging us out. Luckily another man stopped to help too so he and Sister Breinholt start pushing the front of our car and Elder Breinholt pushes the gas and pulls us out backwards onto the road! Elder and Sister Breinholt get the coolest senior couple award hands down. Sister Earl and I jumped out of the car and hugged them we were so grateful they got us out. (I maybe cried a little because I was scared) and Sister Breinholt goes, "oooh our little Arizona bunny".  There was no damage to the van, the cinnamon rolls got made and were delivered and everything was just fine! Heavenly Father was really looking out for us because it could have been a lot worse. 

Yesterday we taught Lea the Plan of Salvation after church and invited her to be baptized on January 5th and she was really hesitant because she didn't want to disappoint her family. We delivered some cinnamon rolls to Lea and her family last night and met her mom.  Her family is not really too fond of the fact she wants to be baptized. We talked with her and her mom in their living room for like 20 minutes!  It was awesome! We told her why we came on missions and what we do to help people come closer to Christ. The Spirit filled the room as we were explaining this to her and she relaxed and smiled and ended up giving us hugs when we left their house! Sister Earl and I got in the van to drive home and we started screaming it went so good.  Then we are headed down the road and Lea texts us and says, "Thank you so much for stopping by I think that really helped :) and I've decided that I'm ready to be baptized. I told my mom that I am going to be baptized before I go back to school." Well you should have heard the screams in the van after that. We were on cloud 9! So so happy!  We stopped at Brother and Sister Masino's house on the way home and told them all that had happened and they were ecstatic.  They are so excited to tell their son, Elder Masino who is serving in Chili, that his girlfriend will be baptized in a few weeks! He will find out tomorrow when he Skypes home :)  That is probably the highlight of my week. I love missionary work so much. I know that it is the work of God and He is working miracles. 

I love you all very much and I am so excited to see your faces tomorrow! Merry Merry Christmas :)
Love, Sister Adams 

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