Same place, new companion!

So many crazy things have happened since I last emailed I don't know
where to begin! After I emailed you last week I went to the trainers
meeting in Pittsford and then we drove the hour drive back home to the
Breinholts at the Girls' Camp to have dinner. We were a little early
so we ended up stopping by Phil and Polly's house. Remember he was the
guy that saved us from the ditch in December. They were so excited to
see us! Haha it was really sweet. We went and chatted with them for a
while and let them know one of us would be leaving Seneca Falls
because we were both going to train new missionaries. They were so sad
and Phil said, "Wait! We didn't get our tour from you guys at the
Whitley Farm!" (Whitmer Farm haha) So they came to the Whitmer Farm
the next day and got a tour from Sister Earl and I.  It went soooo
good! They are so open and really related with the stories of the
miracles that occurred there. They both got teary-eyed on the tour as
we taught and testified of the restored gospel.  We are keeping in
close contact so we can start teaching them. How many times can you
say you took Episcopal priests on tour at the Whitmer Farm?! Haha
probably not very much. So I felt privileged to of had that experience
with them. Love Phil and Polly!

Sunday night we got transfer calls and it made all of our mouths drop.
 We thought for sure I would be leaving to get closer to Palmyra for
Pageant- but nope. Sister Earl is in Newark now training a new
missionary and me and my new companion are staying here in Seneca
Falls. That is not normal at all for cast trainers to be so far away
from the Hill Cumorah, but the assistants said they'd make sure we had
enough miles a month to make the drives back and forth. So for some
reason God needs me to stay here is this wonderful place of Seneca
Falls and I am so ready to find out why. So my guess is that you are
dying to know who I am training and will be with for at least the next
three transfers....

Well, my new companion is SISTER TIPTON!!!! Woo!! We love each other
already. She is so great and we go together like Oreos and rainbow
chip frosting. (that is her favorite treat haha) For me it would have
to be, we go together like bananas and Nutella. I was so happy when
President announced in transfer meeting that we would be together.  I
kind of had a feeling that would happen for some reason but I didn't
want to get my hopes up.  But God knows what He is doing and He put us
together :)  Her and I are going to be working in Seneca Falls this
summer unless President decides to do something crazy again. But he's
inspired and I have felt that confirming witness that Sister Tipton
and I are supposed to be working together and that we are supposed to
be here in Seneca Falls. It is so crazy, Mom, that you have already
made friends with Sister Tipton's mom and that you guys talk. Haha so
great.

Monday Sister Earl said her goodbyes to the people here and then
Tuesday we did the switch!  Twenty new missionaries came to our
mission. Ten elders and ten sisters.  President has been opening new
areas and splitting areas right and left. We are definitely seeing the
influx of missionaries and the work in western New York is beginning
to hasten.

Sister Tipton and I have not had a "normal" day yet (but then again do
missionaries ever have normal days? haha).  We had the open house for
the 183rd anniversary of the publication of the Book of Mormon at the
BOMPS on her first day with me. We went with the Breinholts and Bill
and Beverly.  It was a blast. The site couples were dressed up in
period dress and acted out how they published the Book of Mormon. Then
on Wednesday we had meetings and orientations to go to in Palmyra so
we were busy with that.  And finally yesterday we had a shift at the
Smith Farm. So that was kind of normal I guess!  We took our first
tour together too and that was fun. She just hasn't seen Seneca Falls
that much yet. But we are going tracting tonight and I have a feeling
she is going to rock it. I am excited to be Sister Tipton's trainer
and spend so much time with her.  I love having the opportunity to
train a new missionary, especially one of the first nineteen year-old
sisters out here in the field. We are going to have SO MUCH FUN.

Well, I love you family! Thank you for everything.  When is the Dance
Barn recital this year? Is Erika set on BYU?  How are the horses?  Did
we get drawn for elk hunting next fall? (I need to know these things
people!)

Here is a short scripture for me to end on this week. I don't mean to
be preachy but hey, I am a missionary that is what I do- teach and
testify! Alma and Amulek are so boss is the Book of Mormon. I have
been reading about them and they were bomb missionaries. Amulek and
Alma our bound and Amulek is worried that the people are going to burn
them.  This is how Alma responds, "Be it according to the will of the
Lord. But, behold, our work is not yet finished; therefore they burn
us not." (Alma 14:13) I love that. "Be it according to the will of the
Lord."  Alma had complete trust in God. He knew that if he was
supposed to tarry that God would deliver them and God did.  If we
trust that much in God and know that whatever we go through in this
life, good or bad, is for a reason, we will be able to more fully see
His plan for us personally, we will feel close to Him, and His arm
will be revealed in our lives.  I know that God lives and He loves us
so much that He send His Only Begotten Son to overcome death for us so
we can live with Him again. I know Jesus Christ is the Savior of the
world and if we turn to Him with full purpose of heart we can be
healed, we can know of our worth, we can have peace, and our lives
will be enriched. I love Him. And I am grateful for this time of year
that we can remember the atonement and the reality of the
resurrection.  In a world full of darkness this message brings hope
and light, and that is because He is the light of the world. Let us
trust Him and believe Him and come unto Him.

Happy Easter!
Love, Sister Alex Adams

Seneca Lake!

With Phil and Polly!

SISTER TIPTON!

Sister Earl and I

The Church Is True!!

Hey everyone! Transfers are coming up next Tuesday and we have TONS of new missionaries coming in so the NYRM is going to blow up it seems like.  I got a call on Monday night saying I will be training one of the new sisters coming in.  She will be the new cast trainer :)  I am excited but also really nervous because I need to move within a 20 minute drive of Palmyra and there really isn't an area to put me and my new companion in.... so I will need to most likely open up an area (unless President finds an area for me to flush). So other than that being a little daunting, I am doing great!  I'll let you know next Friday what the heck happens to me, and where I am living, and what ward I am in, and who my companion is.  Until then I will be taking in the excitement of the unknown. 

Sister Szuch and Raines came up with a new way to do referrals at the visitors' centers and I have had the opportunity to help them in that process.  It is brilliant (not to be prideful or anything).  But it incorporates working with the members more and building the kingdom more rapidly.  It is right in line with Preach My Gospel and is echoing what the new youth Sunday school program teaches.  It is a referral revolution! Well, more like a reformation.  I am really excited about it.  We presented this plan to Elder and Sister Searle this week and they agreed that it is in line with where the church is going with technology and culture of the uprising generation.  It will take more organization on the part of the missionary, but in the end it will be more effective and we will see more results.  So Elder Searle has asked us to start experimenting with it on our tours so we can present the plan as a whole with statistics to Salt Lake and then train the other sisters on how to do it.  I am so grateful for Sister Raines and Szuch for starting this and for letting me help push it forward.  What better place to start something new that will improve the work than with the sisters at the Whitmer Farm (funny how history repeats itself).  We are the ones where the tire meets the road too so we can see the difference each day as we give tours.  Some of our plans have already been sent to Church Headquarters and they are reviewing them.  They emailed back and told us they appreciate that we take our calling so seriously. (Well, if you don't take it seriously then what are you doing on a mission!) I'll let you know what happens as this develops. 

This week Sister Earl and I taught ward scripture study on the topic of courage. It was inspired by an awesome new Mormon Message online about Esther. We read at the end on 1 Nephi 3 and the beginning of 1 Nephi 4 in the Book of Mormon.  It is the part when Nephi stands up to his brothers when they are ticked about having to go back to Jerusalem to get the scriptures for their family.  I love Nephi's words in that and I realized that true courage comes from a place of love.  He wasn't trying to be a hero or show his brothers how much more valiant he was... he just wanted them to work as a team and be a family knit together in unity for the cause of righteousness.  He loved them and he loved the Lord and just wanted to do what was good for his family then and in the future.  And he showed courage with love, even after they beat him with a rod!  Nephi displays the character of Christ so often in his experiences. No wonder when Joseph Smith was translating the Book of Mormon, the Lord commanded him to translate the small plates of Nephi to replace the 116 lost pages. What would the Book of Mormon be without 1 Nephi and 2 Nephi... and Jacob! and Enos! Such good stuff.  If you are reading this email and your scripture study has gone down the drain, pick up the Book of Mormon and read it. Seriously, don't be dumb.  There is so much we can learn from it.  It is another testament of Jesus Christ and it does bring us closer to Him and makes us better people.  I am a living testimony of that. 

Kuha'o Case visited our mission!  He and his family just walked into the sites on Wednesday and ended up staying for our specialized training at the Hill Cumorah to play for us and our site meeting that night too!  If you don't know who I am talking about.  Kuha'o is a boy who is blind and he is a piano prodigy.  He can listen to a song once and then just play it on the piano.  IT IS INCREDIBLE.  I talked to his grandpa for quite a while about their family and Kuha'o's gift.  They live in Waimea on the Big Island in Hawaii! That is where we visited right before my mission! Anyway is was a neat experience to meet him and to see him play.  Here is a link to his story on the Mormon Channel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IOxt1Z3pDk

This week was filled with miracles and good memories. If I wrote them all this email would be a small novel so I will spare you.  I love you all so much and appreciate your prayers and support. :) You are the best. 
Love, Sister Alexandra Adams

Sister Earl and I at the BOMPS with the Howells! Such a fun senior couple.

With Brother and Sister Gilmore.  He is our ward mission leader and is awesome!

Me and my bestie, Sister Jones.  Normal faces in pictures? what's that?

 This is Pamela.  She is a sweety. 

We Found The Sun!

The sun does exist in western New York!  I thought that it got lost for a while there. We had two days of sun and 50s but now we are back to snow and gray and 30s…. oh well, better than single digits.  Okay so I don’t even know where to start because it has been almost two weeks since my last p-day and so much happened! 

Well a week ago we took the “Book of Mormon Musical” cast on tour at the Book of Mormon Publication Site.   It was the coolest thing.  At first I was really nervous because that play makes fun on Mormons and is very crude (so I hear from the senior couples who can read and watch the news). We were all really nervous about it but I just prayed really hard to say the things Heavenly Father would have me.  As I was pondering and studying before they arrived I just had this thought:  “They didn’t write the play.  They are just people who want to sing and dance and perform.”  It completely changed my perspective.  They deserved to be treated as any other tour that came in.   It ended up being a really good experience.  They were very genuine and had good questions.   As Sister Earl and I took them through the BOMPS and answered questions the Spirit was there.  How could it not be?  It is such a special place!  At the end I was able to share my testimony with them.  I told them that I didn’t know their religious backgrounds or if they had a relationship with God, or even if they believed in God… but I know that He is real and He is our loving Heavenly Father and He is ready and willing to tell them the truth if they just ask Him.  They all shook my hand before they left and thanked me.  They performed in Rochester that night so I told them to have a great show.  (Secretly wished I could be on a stage performing- tug at heart for a moment.)  Well a few days later some people from the Rochester 1^st Ward told us that they talked with them after the show back stage.  One of the cast members referred himself to the missionaries.  Two of them that were upset they weren’t cast in the NY City group or the British cast and put into the traveling cast said, “We know now why we needed to be in the traveling cast.  We were supposed to come see these sites.”  Many of them expressed that when they performed that night they felt a little “uncomfortable”.  They said that the Book of Mormon isn’t just a prop to them anymore- that they all want to actually read it cover to cover.  OHHHH MYYY GOSSSSHHHHH. Can you believe that!? Such a huge deal.  I am glad I was one of the sisters that got to be involved in that.

We did service this week and the Seneca Lake Girls’ Camp again.  It was fun.  They are renovating the camp director’s house so we went to help clean up saw dust and dry wall and stuff.  Sister and Elder Breinholt are so fun.  Sister Breinholt was showing us her old cheer moves haha it was awesome.

Jim was ordained to the Aaronic priesthood!  Even cooler he was ordained in the log home where the Church was organized in 1830 and where the first ordinations were performed. That was an amazing experience that I was blessed to witness.  Bill even participated! They rolled his wheel chair up and into the log home and put him right next to Jim in the chair so he could put his hand on Jim’s head.  So great.

I took the Sherman family on tour at the Whitmer Farm that day too! They were such a cool family.  I can’t believe President Sherman will be there when I get released or when I report after my mission.  That was weird to think about.  I asked Joe if Erika was a good date haha.  It was funny.  But cool I got to take a family that knows my family so well on tour! They gave Sister Earl and I lotion and these really soft socks… ooooooh so nice :) Mom, can I have their information so I can send them a card?

This week we saw many miracles and we also contacted some really not nice people.  One lady was like, “I am born again Christian and your Jesus you worship is different than my Jesus.”  (Huh??? Uhhh okay?) So I asked her if she knew anyone we could help in the area and she said, “NO! everyone who talks to you goes to hell!” (oh wow).  So we just told her to have a good day and left.  But she did say we had cute boots on as we walked away, so she wasn’t totally evil.  Life with a black tag is interesting 99.9% of the time that’s for sure. And I love it! I know that even though if we don’t see it all the time that we are making a difference.

I love you all very much!

Love, Sister Adams

NYRM Video

Hello everyone who reads this blog! This is a crazy video of the missionaries in our mission. If you want to SEE why I love this mission and the people I serve with so much you can watch this. It was made by Sister Alyssa White who just got home from the New York Rochester Mission. (yes, that is Sister Butters and I doing P90X kick boxing in the gallery at the Book of Mormon Publication Site and getting caught by Sister White in the security cameras. And no, that is not me going crazy at the end :) who would do such a thing?) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5wFcS8l2CY

Warning, Crazy Analogy in this One

This week was really good! I went on exchanges with Sister Madsen and she came here to Seneca Falls. Sister Earl went up to Farmington with Sister Butters. It was really fun and Sister Madsen and I saw a few miracles! We went to go teach Jinny a lesson because she hasn't been coming to church recently. Well, Jinny's friend, Joanne, was there and so she got the lesson too. We read with them in 3 Nephi 18 of the Book of Mormon. We handed Joanne a copy so she could read along with us and she said, "I will read this with you, but I do not believe in it, and I will never be a 'Mormon'." We just kept things upbeat and said, "Yeah sure that it totally fine!" So we read about Christ instituting the sacrament among the people in the Americas and talked about why the sacrament is so important and why we need to be at church to partake of it. Well as the conversation went along Joanne began to open up and talk to us about her belief in the Savior. It was so good! By the end of the lesson Jinny told us she would for sure be at church (and she was!) and Joanne said..."I really enjoyed this! I think I will come every time you girls read with Jinny!" Yesssssss. Planting seeds! I was so glad Sister Madsen was with me on that lesson because she brought up some great points that Jinny and Joanne both needed to hear.

We went and taught Kimberly this week too! She was really pressured into being baptized and has not been active almost the whole time she's been a member. The first time we met her she slammed the door in our face, but Sister Earl and I have felt really prompted to keep trying. Now she is our really good friend and we are teaching her the lessons over again. Last time we were at her apartment she said, "It is so crazy how my life started to get terrible, and even my family turned against me, and I pray and ask God for help, and you sisters show up at my door. I think you were an answer to my prayers." God knew she needed help and that is why the Spirit prompted us to keep going back.

Lea was in town this week! We even went to her house and talked to her mom. It went really well! Her mom was way nervous that we would shove religion down her throat but we just answered her questions and got to know her. It was good. She was asking us more about how we came to know the Church is true and why we came on missions to share it. She couldn't believe we would give up family, friends, school, jobs, etc. to be here. It makes me think of this scripture in 2 Nephi 2. It is verse 8 and it says, "Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise."

It is so important to make the gospel known to everyone. And that is why we missionaries serve! In order to have true peace and happiness in this life we need the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not only have it and know it, but live it. And if we live it, we qualify for eternal life. If we just stop and think about how happy the gospel makes us in our life and how it helps us everyday, it is almost impossible not to share it. Anyway, we had a good time with Lea and her mom and even got to share a scripture thought with her. Slowly but surely :)

This week I had a cool epiphany that I shared with Erika in her letter (It's on it's way), but I think I want to share it with all of my family. It is kind of bizarre so hang tight. Okay, so I was talking with Sister Madsen and Bob (keeper of the Sacred Grove) and about how everything "denotes there is a God" (Alma 30:44). We talked about our solar system and the earth and how it moves and functions, even down to the tiniest molecules that make up the things around us. We discussed water and how every living thing needs it to survive. A water molecule has 2 hydrogen atoms and 1 oxygen. H2O. This is like the Godhead. In water the two hydrogen atoms could represent God the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ- two separate Beings but the same because they both have glorified bodies of flesh and bone. Then the oxygen atom could represent the Holy Ghost. He is different from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ because he does not have a body. He is a personage of Spirit. Sometimes in life we have so much around us that we feel like we can't breathe. Well, because of the Holy Ghost, we have spiritual experiences that help us breathe, know there is a God, He loves us, and everything will be okay. We all need spiritual experiences just like we all need oxygen. And the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost work in perfect unity to "bring to pass the eternal life of man", just like how the molecules in water work together to sustain life. Without water we wouldn't live. Without God we would never live eternally. Or even exist for that matter. All things denote there is a God. Even the water that makes up most of the earth, our bodies, and the food that keeps us going testifies of Them. So yeah, there you have it. Light bulb moment for the week. (Sorry Erika you get to read that twice)

I love you all very much and hope you are all happy and healthy and safe. I pray for that everyday.

 

XOXO, Sister Alexandra Adams

 

 

Went to our favorite Chinese restaurant with Lea!

On the drive out to the Seneca Lake Girls Camp... snow geese EVERYWHERE. Hundreds and hundreds of them.

Sisters on a fun p-day activity. The first conference for womans' suffrage was held in this chapel in 1848 here in Seneca Falls!

 

Brushing off bunks at the girls camp! service!