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.