Elder Garrett Adams

Letter to his little brother Miles Jan. 22, 2012

2012-01-30T22:41:00.000-08:00

Miles,

Bro that is so tight that you got your call to freakin Paris, France!!!! Are you nervous to have to speak and learn French? But when you get home man you will be able to get any girl you want after you talk to her with your sexyF rench accent haha. Man so you didn't even tell me when you have to report to the MTC??? (May 30th) And you better be coming back for my homecoming man, I don't care of you have school or not son. Man I am so pumped to see you bro. Your gunna have to teach me how to get the ladie,s man I totally forgot everything and I am pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get a date with anyone. Keep working hard man and read your scripts and say your prayers everyday nothing is more important than that, not even all those cute girls running around. Alright bro waiting to hear back from you man. Take it easy.

Love Elder Adams

January 22, 2012

2012-01-30T22:23:00.000-08:00

Hey mom,

Yeah so I am sorry that I am late with my email this week but you can't be mad at me we have been working really hard. We left early on Monday to go to Kumasi for Zone Meetings with BANTAMA SUNYANI AND DICHEMSO, and also to go on splits. We just got back from Sunyani about 15 minutes ago and it's been a long week with way to much driving, but a great one nonetheless. I even tried to find some time to email you in Kumasi but we just couldn't do it sorry. I also had what a would say was the most powerful lesson of my entire mission hands down!!!!! I will tell you about it, but let me answer some of your questions first.

First off I don't really care where we go to eat if that is the plan, all I know is that I don't want any rice, chicken, fish, bread, or eggs!!!!!!!!! I have been eating that everyday for two years. Maybe a steak and a fresh salad would be nice haha, but really anywhere is cool with me. Yeah about the invisalign retainers... me, Brown. Speech and Hair went on splits yesterday and were on the way to an appointment when we passed a nice basketball court. So we played a game to 5 points, me and Speech vs Brown and Hair. Meanwhile, my retainers which I had put in my front shirt pocket behind my tag fell out during the intense game, because they were no longer there when we got back to the apartment and that was the last time I remember having them. So now I have no retainers and my teeth will probably be crooked by the time I get home. Hey come on, I did pretty well, I almost made it 2 years. Yes, Speechly is very much like Kent and I think that is why we are so tight. Speech is flippin funny man. Yeah I totally talked to Elder Alba about that two days ago and he said that they were cousins somehow and that he knew them. It is a small world.

Okay as for garments they don't sell the drylux ones here in Ghana and those are the only ones that I personally like. So you are going to have to get me like 10 pairs of the drulux garments before i get home please. They are all mediums the ones that I have right now so you should order the same bottoms, but maybe some large tops. The medium tops are kinda small now but at the same time they still fit. Maybe just a few large ones so that I can try them. And don't get me the celestial smile ones, I want the crew neck ones. I am pretty sure I will leave all of my clothes behind because most of them are pretty worn and some other missionaries have already asked for them. Really the only ones I will bring home are the ones that I am wearing. I will just figure out what I need when I get home. I have no clue. Do I have a topic or am I free to share whatever I feel like and just tell powerful stories or what??? That would be sweet, but if I have a topic let me know. That would be sweet if Miles went through the temple right when I get back, I totally want to go to the temple that first week anyway. And he better be flying or diving back to see me and be at my homecoming!!!!! You hear me! I already picked some stuff up for the girls, I didn't forget. I already have most of the things that I want to take home, but maybe I will buy a painting or something like that and a few other things. As for the African print material give me some idea of what you want there is a whole lot to choose from. And how much do you want me to bring home?? Okay I think I have answered all of your questions so now let me tell you about our week and share with you what went down in the lesson that me and Speechly taught yesterday.

So we went to Kumasi On Monday, and on Tuesday we had a zone meeting with the Bantama zone along with their interviews with Pres, and then splits with the zone leaders in the evening. Then the same thing again with the Dichemso zone on Wednesday. Thursday morning we went up to Sunyani and had the same meeting with the Sunyani zone and then we went on splits with the Sunyani Zone Leaders from about 2 in the afternoon to the end of the day. For most of the day I went on splits with Elder Brown (my son) which was way sweet, just like old times. Those guys are doing really well up in Sunyani and have a lot of really cool powerful converts and investigators. Brown can speak the twi pretty well too, like he is way good. Kinda embarrassing cuz I suck at it but whatever, I never would get to use it as much anyway even if i could speak it because we don't proselyte as much. But I am totally jealous cuz its way cool, and Speechly is like fluent, man he is way good. For each of the zone meetings we had to instruct and we talked about becoming Christlike missionaries and how the success of a missionary and his mission is directly related to how Christlike he becomes on his mission, because a Christlike missionary will always be a successful missionary. Then we talked about how charity and love is the one Christlike attribute that encompasses on the other Christlike attributes, and how if we can possess that attribute while in the field it will help others not of our faith recognize us as reps of Jesus Christ more than anything else. Then we talked about how we can acquire the attribute of charity and love as missionaries and apply the same to our missionary efforts. It was pretty good I think and I pray it will have an affect on the Elders and give more of a drive to perfect themselves while in the field, because there is no better time and place to do it.

Okay so that is that. Now after the meeting in Sunyani I went on splits with Elder Brown for the day and it went way good and we had some good lessons and talked a little bit about mission and life. It was fun. We met back up with Elder Hair and Elder Speechly in the evening to go and teach (with all 4 of us) a very important lessons to their most powerful investigator who is really rich and also really smart (she drives a BMW). On the way to teach that women (Sis Ivey) that is when we stopped and ended up playing a small game of basketball in the dark which was a lot of fun. I totally drilled a 3 in Brown's face to win the game haha. So when we got to Sister Ivey's house we realized that it would probably be best if only two of us taught her and the other 2 Elders went to teach another man who they had set an appointment with at the same time. So I ended up staying with Elder Speechly to teach Sister Ivey about the restoration. It was hands down the most powerful lesson of my mission. But I am sorry I am going to leave you hanging because I will most likey tell the story at my homecoming. That way it will be more exciting for you to listen to it. It was a great week and I still love missionary work so much. Days like yesterday make it so worth every sacrifice and all the hard work we put in. I love you guys and hope to hear from you again in a few days. I will write my essays tomorrow morning for BYU, I promise. Okay love you

Love Elder Adams

January 16, 2012 Bakaano is my Favorite Area

2012-01-18T19:57:00.000-08:00

Sorry I thought I had already answered your questions that you asked me. So I did receive the 2nd package with he cereal and the computer storage. It's perfect and I will be able to bring home a lot of really cool things on it. I just haven't figured out how to take Sister Shulz pictures off of her computer yet because she has a mac book and those things are crazy confusing.

So this week was a pretty good week. We were in Cape Coast the whole of the week and we were able to teach a lot of people in our area. We also went on splits one day with the Elders in Elmina which is the biggest fishing village in the entire mission. It's a pretty cool place. Splits are always fun if the Elders are working hard and have some good people to teach. As for us, we have 2 other Elders in our area now and so anyone that we start teaching that is serious we end up giving to them to teach because they only have a few investigators right now, and they are in the area everyday and can teach them on a regular basis. So we have been more of the finders these past few weeks, and we have found a few really good people. However we did have 2 really good progressing investigators that we were sure to be baptized but one of them moved to Accra on Saturday and won't be back for 2 months, but the other one came to church on Sunday it's just hard to meet him because he is a taxi driver. Like I have said before we spend almost all of our time working with the less-actives and part member families. I think I have taught 6 or 7 different part-member families in the last few months, but so far no luck in getting any of them into the waters of baptism. Some of them know a lot about the church and their biggest concern is they say the members don't really live the gospel that they proclaim to be true, so they find it hard to follow. So it seems that it has been more of my job to just plant the seeds and help them see the goodness of the church, and pray for more success in the future. But since I have been here there have been a lot of less-actives that have started to come more often. There was one girl in her early twenties who we have been visiting this week that finally came to church on Sunday and she even gave the closing prayer in sacrament meeting. I guess you could say that we are the home teachers for Bakaano Branch because the home teaching program is completely unused in our branch. But I think I can say that Bakaano has been my favorite area. I have such a close relationship with so many of the members because of how much we work with them and their family members. A lot of them found out that I am leaving soon and are planning to feed us a treat or do something special, so I have a feeling that my last week I am going to really suffer trying to eat so much food. It does have its pluses going home with the less-actives because I make them all promise me that they will come to church before I leave, and they always agree to it so we will have to see what happens haha. Yesterday was President Shulz birthday and they are out of town so we have to rush right now to get him his B-day present before he gets home from Kumasi. So I think that is about all for this week. I will try to finish typing all of those essays for BYU today if I can get time. We are going to have a super busy week this week and next week because we are having zone meetings and interviews throughout the mission so I have to go and prepare my instruction which is "go about doing good". Have a great week and I will talk to you later. Love you guys

Love Elder Adams

December 26th (Need Portable Hard Drive)

2012-01-18T19:53:00.000-08:00

Hey good afternoon,

Sorry I forgot to ask you about something last night while we were talking. I have all of Sister Shulz pictures that she has taken since she has been in Ghana and also all of Sister Sabeys photos from her mission, which are all here on the mission computer and a lot of them are really sweet pictures that I want to take home with me, but I don’t have time to sort through thousands of pictures. I also have my own pictures that I want to take home with me that are saved onto the office computer, BUT I don’t have anything that I can store them on that has enough room to hold that many pictures. It’s like more than 20 GB I think so I was wondering if you could send me a portable hard drive or something that can hold a lot of pictures. I also have all of the original documents that the pioneers of Africa were writing to church headquarters before the church came to Ghana, they are all scanned into the computer and I want to be able to take them home. So it would be sweet if you could help me out by sending my some kind of portable hard drive with enough GB to hold all of this stuff. It was great to talk to you guys the other day. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and enjoy the rest of the holdiays. Love you guys. OHH I also still want a lot of pictures of my converts and stuff so that I can write them a letter and send them a picture before I go home. I don’t know how but is there some way that you can send me pictures of my whole mission so that I can sort through and find the ones I want. I never really thought about needing them until now.

Love Elder Adams

Christmas Letter

2011-12-18T17:31:00.001-08:00

Dear Family and Friends,

It’s a privilege once again to be able to share a few words with all of you this holiday season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior. It’s a wonderful time of year. I love it because it is all about Christ. It’s always refreshing to take another look at his humble birth, sinless life, and glorious resurrection, whatever form it may be. I would simply like to share today my feelings about the Savior as well as an experience that has greatly changed who I am today and made my mission all that it has turned out to be.

Just over two years ago I was sitting in my mission prep class at BYU-I listening to my teacher speak, and even though I regrettably don't remember much from that class, I will never forget these words. He said "You must start your missions now by praying that the Lord he will bless you beyond your own ability, to love the people wherever you serve. If you love the people you will love your mission." I was deeply touched by his remarks. And so that is exactly what I did. Almost every night before I went to sleep I prayed that wherever I served I would be blessed with love towards those people. At times I doubted that my prayers were even worthwhile. I remember thinking how can I even ask that when I didn’t know where I was going? But I continued to pray. A month or two later I received my call. I was called to serve in the Ghana Cape Coast Mission. I then began praying that the Lord would bless me with that same Christ like love that he has towards the Ghanaian people. And I prayed and I prayed, day after day. Well the time finally came, and my mission began. And those first few months I had the hardest time truly loving the people the way I should have. They were just so different. I was so judgmental. But I still remember to this very day night after night kneeling down at my bed side begging and pleading the Lord to bless me with charity and love for these beautiful people. I knew that without his help I could not do it, I could not truly love them as he did.

As I have reflected on this throughout my mission it has became clear to me that because we are begotten sons and daughters of our all loving Father in Heaven, we are born with and inherit the same ability to love as he loves. It’s in our divine nature, we inherited that ability from our Heavenly Father. I don’t know when it happened, but in a way very similar to the way that Jesus Christ loves these people, I also have come to love these people. All of those prayers, all of that pleading and begging that I would find within my soul that Christ like love for these people, all of those prayers have been answered. As I think about all of the investigators, recent-converts and members that I have grown to love my heart is full, full of love towards them and towards the people of Ghana, to an extent that I know is not possible without the help of my Heavenly Father. I now know why I love my mission so much and why it has been the greatest building block in my life. Because of love. Almost instantly my thoughts are directed to the Savior. If I love the Ghanaian people as much as I do, If I get worried when an investigator calls me in the middle of the night, , if I cry because an investigator starts crying, if I am happy because they are happy, if I dread the day that I have to leave this country knowing that maybe in this life I will never see many of them again, I can't even begin to comprehend how much Jesus Christ must love and care about me. Because of the love I have now for them, I have come to understand the love that he has for me. In a way I've never understood before, I now understand the true meaning of the atonement and why Christ did what he did. I feel so much closer to my Savior and feel like I know him so much more now than I ever have before. Now I have an idea what it is like for him, how he feels when I sin, when I do wrong, when I fail to choose the right, but at the same time I now know how happy he is when we repent. I know how happy he is when we are happy. I know now why the 2nd greatest commandment is to love all men as ourselves, because when we truly learn how to do that we know God and understand his love he has for us, and we love him with all our heart. Love conquers all things. Mom and Dad, Family and Friends, I love my mission and these people so much, I dread the day I will have to leave them. My testimony has grown so much and my desire to share the gospel has grown even more. But my love for the Ghanaian people is the true story behind my whole mission and the foundation of my joy and happiness. My prayer is that this Christmas we may all find our hearts given out in love. Just as our Father in Heaven showed his love for us by sending is only begotten son into the world, may this Christmas we also show our love for him by loving those around us. I know that Christ lives. He loves us. He is the Savior of the World. He is real. Of that I so testify, In the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen

Baptism of 30 members in Bibiani

2011-12-12T21:42:00.000-08:00

December 12, 2011

Well another week has come to an end. It was a mighty long and exhausting week, but it was a great week nonetheless. Friday we didn't have much to do in Kumasi because president was having district meetings (the same meeting we have been to 5 times and could repeat in our heads word for word) so he gave us the day off and said that we didn’t have to go to the district meetings. So instead we spent Friday driving around doing some errands and helping Prosper the apartment man to find some new apartments for the Elders. It was pretty boring day but we still stayed productive, and then in the evening we helped Elder and Sister Zoll prepare things for Saturdays big baptism out in Bibiani.

We left the house at 7 in the morning and got to Bibiani around 9:30 or so that same morning. We gathered all of the people up who were being baptized from the neighboring villages and dresseed them at the chapel and put all of them in their whites. By the way we just got them a brand new building to worship in, their old place was terrible. 30 people in all white is a powerful sight. I helped finish doing some baptismal interviews for those people who couldn't make it out Friday for the interviews. I interviewed one lady named Grace who had been waiting for this day for more than two years. She came to know that the church was true by picking up a BOM and reading and coming to know that all the rumors and everything people were saying was false. She was by far the most prepared person I have ever interviewed for baptism. For example when I asked her if she could promise to keep the Sabbath Day holy for the rest of her life, without hesitation she said "No!" I asked, "well, why not?" She said "Because what if I get sick and can't partake of the sacrament one week, then I have broken my promise" You should have seen her face when she said that. It looked like someone had just ripped her heart out. She really felt how important that covenant was and she was scared of breaking it. Then when I asked her, "well grace, if you are not sick then can you promise to keep the Sabbath Day holy every week by partaking of the sacrament?" and then she said with a big smile "Yes of course, always, and my savior will help me." It really blew me away how serious this was to her and I could really tell that she was determined to never, ever break that promise of baptism. It meant everything to her. Half the people being baptized live in a village 40 min away and they pay to rent a bus to come in at least every 2 weeks, which for them is a huge sacrifice. After everyone was ready, we loaded them all up and drove them down to a river about 2 min away. It was a beautiful place to do the baptism. Even the Queen Mother of the village heard about the baptism and she came to see it for herself. It was great. We had a lot of people there to see the baptism too that weren't members. Probably like 75 people upwards I would guess were there. Two members gave some really great talks as well. After all of the baptisms then we did all of the confirmations and then enjoyed some time together. It was one of the neatest experiences ever. The only thing that I was a little bummed about was that because I was the camera man of the whole thing I forgot and never got a picture with me in it, so I have nothing to show for the whole thing. But oh well it was still great.

The baptism finished by 4 then we drove to Sunyani. We got there late and then I wasn't feeling to good so I just went straight to sleep after dinner. We got up in the morning and worshipped and then sat in meetings for the rest of the day with the Branch leaders in Sunyani and with the Elders. Closed from that and then we recorded the weekly numbers for the whole mission late into the night. Got up this morning and played some basketball with the boys and we just got back to cape coast and right now it is about 9:45 in the evening. I am so excited to sleep on my own bed :) YES!

It was a really good week and we were able to do a lot of really cool great things. The baptism was the highlight of it all. Now I am just exhausted so I am going to bed. I love you guys and hope that you have a wonderful Christmas this year. Enjoy the Holidays. Love you.

Elder Adams

December 4, 2011

2011-12-12T21:23:00.000-08:00

Hello,

I am in Kumasi right now and we have a big weekend ahead of us up here. We are going to have a baptism in Bibiani tomorrow where we are baptizing 30 people who have been meeting together in a group for more than 8 years or something, but because of how far away they live the church hasn't allowed them to be baptized or really be established. They have been paying more tithing than any of the mission branches and they even double the highest paying branch in amount of tithes payed. They have been begging the church to send missionaries to them for years. They are among the most faithful people this church has ever seen. So tomorrow is going to be a really special day. I get to do a few interviews and be one of the witnesses for the baptism and I also have been given the assignment to be the camera man and do interviews of the people being baptized and all that. It will be a once in a lifetime experience and I am really excited.

On Sunday we will then head up to Sunyani and have a meeting with the elders up there and go on splits. We are also making the preparations for the Christmas zone conferences and it is going to be really sweet, we have a lot of really fun things that we are going to do and the instruction will be powerful as always. When it comes to Christmas I really don't want anything I would rather just have at least one Christmas where everything is focused on Christ and on its true meaning. It would make it one to always remember. I have been thinking about what to put in my letter but I haven’t really come up with anything because I put everything in last years letter, and we all know that somehow I have to make it way better than lasts years, so I am still trying to come up with something good, plus I am the only missionary out so that is also added pressure.

Now to answer some of your questions, when it comes to the police I have been stopped more times than I can count. They have on numerous occasions taken my license and filled out a court date and a ticket and all kinds of other things, but always all they want is money and so a lot of the people associated with the church they just pay them off and then nothing happens. But as for me I am very stubborn and I was taught that you never pay them, but that you can always find a way out. So sometimes I spend 30 to 40 minutes talking and negotiating my way out before they will let me go, but they usually get tired of me and know that I won't pay them so they just let me go. You do have to be very respectful and beg and beg and beg but in the end I ALWAYS get away free (knock on wood) But I have had to go to some extremes and at times practically get on my knees and beg for forgiveness and give them the big spill about how we are representatives of Christ trying to help their country and then that always gets them and they just turn their head, give up their pride, and let us go haha. It's a great experience. As for the retainers I have been wearing them pretty regular, but not every day but usually I never go more than a day without wearing them.

Well I am staying more busy than ever and the mission is so big that we are always going. I think it may be one of the biggest missions in the world. So it is really making me grow and making me stretch, a lot. But at the same time I love it. I talked to Pres the other day about staying in the office and he wanted to know if I wanted to be released for my last transfer. But as I thought about it I just said "I don't know what the Lord wants me to do, but you are entitled to that revelation so when you find out, that is exactly what I would love to do." So that's how it is going to be, up to him and the Lord but I really love what I am doing and would also love to be with the people more, but thank goodness I don't have to make the decision!!

Well I love you guys and hope that you are having a great Christmas season. I pray for you everyday and I am always thinking about you guys. So I was late in emailing this week but truly I haven't had much time, not even to sleep haha jk. but not really.

Love Elder Adams

Lots to catch up on. 6 new posts below.

2011-11-29T21:48:00.000-08:00

11-28-11

Well it’s early morning here and we are off to Accra once again to try and get some Elders their driver's licenses. Pray that we get them, then I won't be the only one driving around here anymore. But I don't have time this morning to write much of an email, so I will write one when I get back tomorrow evening. I didn't get the pictures you sent so I don't know what’s up, maybe it just doesn't work cuz its Africa. Well I still don't know if I can transfer from BYU-I to BYU because I never deferred or whatever. Everyone is telling me that if I didn't do that then I would have to reapply? So you might need to check that. But yeah you can find out and see what the deal is and let me know. My toe is broken but healed and it is deformed, but not too bad so I won't worry about it. I didn't get the picture of the nativity set so try again. Okay I will email you tomorrow.

Love Elder Adams

New Companion and 31 New Missionaries

2011-11-29T21:35:00.000-08:00

11-20-11

Okay so sorry I haven't emailed, things have been super busy this week. Monday we came home from Sunyani, we were there on splits over the weekend. Tuesday we drove to Accra and did the temple, airport, and MTC thing. Wednesday we picked up the 31 new missionaries from the MTC and I went with 8 of them from Accra up to Kumasi in the van, and a bus took the rest down to Cape Coast. That same day after dropping the Elders in Kumasi I drove back down to Cape Coast. We left at 7 in the morning and we got to the mission home about 7 in the evening. A lot of driving!!!!!!!!! Then Thursday morning we turned around and went back to Obuasi with 4 Elders. Obuasi is a new area that we just reopened. We have a mission branch there. They took Elders out of there a few years ago because they were troublesome. So we drove up there Thursday morning and stayed the night and came home on Friday evening. We met with the Branch Presidency and talked about what we expected to happen now that we are putting Elders back into that area. It was really good, and then we met with a lot of members and investigators that the branch missionaries were teaching. Obuasi has a lot of potential, it is a big gold mining city and they only have one branch there, so we are expecting it to grow really fast and hopefully become a district or something many years down the line. So the whole of the week we were traveling up and down up and down. That’s why I haven't emailed you this week. Don't get me wrong I could have found time, but I was just too tired and didn't want to do it haha sorry.

Anyway, the pictures that you sent were great but I need pictures with my recent converts. I am going to send them some pictures so if it is possible please send me pictures of me and what you would think is my converts or even members. Those are the ones that I need. As for just other pictures

they are fun to look at, but don't worry about those ones. 2nd yes I think my toe is broken. It is still deformed but whatever who cares the pain is going away. 3rd my new companion is Elder Hair from O'Fallon Illinois. He is tight and we were in the same class at BYU-I. We got quite a bit in common so things are going to be sweet. But man I do miss Elder Tadaeo, I freakin love that kid so much!!!! 4th, I fixed that camera that you are talking about and that is the one that I am using, the other one I just left it in the mission safe. It was broken but I fixed the lens for only 50 cedis. So it works great again. 5th, yes please you need to apply to BYU for me I don't want to worry about any of that crap while I am on mission. If you want me to do it I will just wait until I get home from mission. But if you can do it that would be sweet. However, I don't think I ever did a deferment at BYU-I so yeah that might be a problem I don't know. So let me know what’s up. I got the packages this week and they were great. Thanks for all that stuff that you sent I greatly appreciate it.

Love Elder Adams

Request

2011-11-29T21:34:00.000-08:00

11-6-11

Sorry I am very busy, but I need you to please send me all of my pictures from my mission on a cd or dvd that you have, or some other way I need them to send to people and things like that so I would like to have all of them if that’s not to much to ask. Please I beg, as soon as possible. I will try to email you tomorrow.

Love you,

Elder Adams

ps. sorry to be so demanding :)

Tour with Elder Gavarret

2011-11-29T21:06:00.000-08:00

10-31-11

Well I guess since I didn't email last week I have a lot to talk about, and I will try to cover the last two weeks as much as possible. So let’s go back to last week. Elder Gavarret of the seventy came and toured the mission for a few days so we had the opportunity to learn from him and he really gave me a lot of advice on what I need to be doing as an assistant and my role especially in helping the mission president. It kinda blew my mind a little bit and almost made me feel like maybe I am only doing about half of what the brethren would expect of me. I also gave two instructions in those mission tour zone conferences. There was a little more pressure than normal haha. I had about a 30 min interview with Elder Gavarret after the conference one on one. He was pretty straight forward with me and told me what I did good, but at the same time a lot of what I need to be doing when it comes to taking care of every little detail, planning, etc. and what the duties of an assistant are. But overall it was pretty good. He didn't speak very good English because he is from South America and it was hard at times for him to say exactly what he wanted but he did
pretty well. He has only been learning English for one year. Here is something funny... he told me that he could tell I am a very spiritual person in my interview. I almost started to laugh haha. So it was nice to have Elder Gavarret tour the mission, but it did take a whole lot of work from President and Sister Shulz and a little from us so it was a bit of a relief and relaxing when the tour was over. We could all breathe again. We have a few decisions and adjustments to make now after the tour pertaining to some things that Elder Gavarret mentioned during the zone conferences. Maybe a few things that will change the culture of the mission a bit, but I'm sure its all for the better. So we are in the process now.

As for the rest of this week we taught in our area a few days, celebrated birthdays, went on all day splits in Takoradi and Sekondi Friday and Saturday, and then were in town to worship in our branch on Sunday! And we had two investigators at church and one powerful member referral also at church. So it was a good week. We are teaching 4 people who have the potential to be baptized, and one of them has a baptismal date. It might not sound like much if you were a full time missionary in this mission, not much at all, but for us because of the small time we have its pretty exciting I think. We only get a few hours a week sometimes. We just had FHE with the Laing family in our branch and they invited the women they referred to us so she was there and they are going to be really good fellow shippers so I am sure she will be baptized. She is a sweet sweet girl. I'm happy. Thursday Sister Shulz cooked us chicken fajitas and cheese cake for our birthday dinners and man was it good. She is an amazingly powerful cook. Cheese cake is amazing, but the process that goes on after eating inside can be quite painful if your body isn't ready for that kind of food! I suffered afterward small small. The sacrifices we make haha. We taught the 5th Sunday combined 3rd hour yesterday in church and taught about a branch mission plan and presented to the branch a branch mission plan and how it is to be carried out. It went well but you could tell that 90 percent of the members thought it was some new doctrine they had never heard of haha. The church is still young here.

Today we played football and I tried to kick the dang ball so hard I think I nearly broke my foot in the process, and the funny part was I totally missed the ball. Soccer just isn't my game... Oh and I also got a sty in my eye this week which sucked, and my investigator popped it for me, it was disgusting!!! That's true love. Something else random this week is a got a original Larry Bird Celtics Jersey from a random guy on the street. The old school jerseys from back in the day. So I was on splits and we were moving to an appointment and I saw him so we contacted him and with our smooth talking got him to just dash it to me and all I had to do was give him a shirt he could wear home. I bet it’s worth big money. It's way sweet. We have been in the process the last week also of doing transfer and I swear transfers shouldn't be this hard. We have 31 new missionaries coming this transfer, and only 10 going home so we have to find new areas and apartments and cities that we want to go in to in order to have places to put all these elders. We are opening a new city called Obuasi were all we have right now is a mission branch with no missionaries. That means we need 31 new trainers, and with their companions that is 62 missionaries. Then we already have 18 being trained, that’s 36 missionaries which makes 98 total missionaries training or being trained. Then we have 18 zone leaders which is 116 and we only have 150 or so missionaries so it’s hard to make some many changes work. But it has to work and it will and to be honest we are pretty much finished with the transfers and it all looks to be pretty dang good. This mission is seriously growing. It's crazy. So I am getting a new companion this transfer, that is true and I have to train him before I get out of here so that will be fun again. Well I love you guys and hope you all had a good Halloween this year. Things couldn't be better here, I am really learning a lot and I am happy and enjoying every second of it. God bless you guys. Love you

Love Elder Adams

ps. Tadaeo got the package and loved it, im sure he emailed you.
pss. Things I need ASAP..
1. deodorant (mine is finished)
2. Toothpaste ( I don't like the fake cheap African stuff)
3. Vitamins please
4. Crest White Strips ( Ghana toothpaste and water and my lack ofbrushing are not keeping my teeth white haha)
5. I got some Proactive from someone and that stuff is great. If you can I just need the reparing lotion, its the best for me yet. But if not easy to find or if its expensive don’t worry about that one.

Love you :)

Kakum National Park

2011-11-29T20:38:00.000-08:00

10-17-11

Hi everyone,

Well I don't have much time so I will be fairly short this week. We started the week off by having Pres Shulz join us in attending a branch council in our branch. Our branch is very inexperienced and so pretty much we just taught the leaders in the branch how to conduct a branch council and more specifically how to carry out a branch mission plan within that branch council. All in all it went well and they understood, but the challenge will be to see how well they implement what they have learned when we are not around. After that we had zone council report on Wednesday, which was cool because it was sweet to see all of the new zone leaders like Elder Brown and Elder Smith. Those guys are cool guys. Then Wednesday evening through Sunday we were in our own area and finishing up some things in the office so it was a pretty relaxed week and we never had to travel, which is very uncommon now a days. We gave one man that we are teaching this week a baptismal date which was sweet and he said that he wanted to be baptized. Then we contacted this old man with diabetes who is a really cool old guy. We have taught him twice now and he is really progressing, but it will be the real test when we invite him to church this week, so we'll see if he comes. We also met a less active man this week who was baptized a few years back, and due to work he became less active shortly after he joined the church. We met him randomly the other day and came to learn that he was a member of the church, so we visited him at his house and he was a really nice humble guy. He did have a 5 foot marijuana plant growing in his back room so we will have to address that with him here very soon. But after sitting with him for a few minutes we invited him to church. He said that he would come next week for sure, but that this week he had to clean his house because nobody has been taking care of it while he was away. So we offered to help him clean it on Saturday. We cleaned with him in the morning for about 3 hours and by the time we finished his house was spotless clean. And so because of what we did for him he was able to finish everything on Saturday and came to church on Sunday and had a great time. We talked to the Branch Pres about him and he is going to start working with him so hopefully he continues to come. Sunday was our branch conference and we had about 100 people or so there, but about 30 or more of them were from the stake so it wasn't as good of a turn out as we would have hoped for.

The pictures are from today. We visited the Kakum national park and went on the canopy walk and then saw a few crocs along the way. It was a fun day. Well that’s about all I got to share with you from this week. I love you and I am really having a great time. This week will be a fun one because a general authority, Elder Gavarrett, is coming to tour our mission and we are doing two zone conferences and then he may come and teach a few lessons with us so that would cool if he does. So the next few days we will be preparing our instructions and stuff like that, ya know gotta make this a powerful one. Then we will be headed back to Kumasi on Sunday. Right now Pres Shulz is at a mission president seminar so we are just here preparing for Elder Ggavarrett. It should be a good week. Anyway thanks for everything and for all your support. I love you guys, have a great week. God Speed!

Love Elder Adams

Visit members in Kumasi

2011-11-29T20:21:00.000-08:00

10-9-11

How's it?

Well it has been another pretty normal week here. Well at least for us. Transfers all seemed to go really smoothly, but it was hard to see that group go home there were a lot of really great Elders in that group. The new guys seem, well green, but they seem to be a good group and we have some good trainers again. After transfers we headed up to Kumasi again to finish the apartment checks and stayed over the weekend. I was able to go to church in Atonsu and then go on splits with the Elders there and see all of my old people which was just awesome. They are all doing really great. The one guy that I baptized named Bright, who was pretty much a straight up gangsta (he just told me a story about how he blew up his brothers car with gas and a match, and then almost killed them with a cutlass) ya he is so powerful and never misses a week. He referred his best friend to the missionaries since I left and he and his wife are about to be baptized as well as Brights wife which is just sweet. But his friend has the same story. They were both just straight up G's living about as low a life as you can live, and now they are both just powerful in the gospel. It is amazing to see the changes the gospel can make in peoples lives. Brights friend gave me a huge hug when he saw me for the first time because he said that he had heard so much about me and was so grateful that we converted Bright because Bright converted him. So anyway I saw them, then some of my favorite members that are still around, but my other three converts are all gone. The one in the wheel chair is is Accra, and the other two are schooling in places a few hours away. But it was a lot of fun and we ate a lot of food. Brother Bright feed us fu fu at 4 pm, Sister Asore fed us yam at 6 pm, and then Sister Dina fed us pasta at 7 pm. I thought I was going to die it was so much food, but we managed to eat it all. It was a great day, and we even got to ride in a tro tro which I haven't done in a long time.

Over the weekend we also got the chance to go to a wedding of some members from Bantama Ward and it turned out to be a big thing. There were about as many people there as you have at stake conference. But when it came to the kissing of the bride things became hilarious. In Ghana affection is something that they never show, so when it comes to the kissing of the bride everyone just goes crazy, they pull out the cameras, cheer, yell, scream, it is just nuts. The groom, who I happened to know, is also a funny funny guy and he made it hilarious. He had his best man pat his lips with his hankey, then he would go in for the kiss and then back out and get everyone to cheer louder, it was just funny. Then when he actually kissed her everyone just went crazy. It was definitely not like back home, but it was so fun and interesting to see how the people were acting at the wedding. Like a bunch of kids. Great memory. Well other than that not much else from this week to share, just a pretty normal week of traveling and going on splits. Now I just have to finish up this pile of office work that we have before us, so I better get back to that. Love you!!!! And God bless you guys.

Love Elder Adams

10-2-11 Love for the Ghanaian People

2011-10-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

Hi Family,

This week has been kind of a spiritual emotional rollercoaster for me in lots of ways. But I feel like I should share it with you. It is the greatest lesson I have ever learned. We went to Kumasi on Wednesday and then up to Sunyani, and then back down to Cape Coast yesterday which is a six hour drive from Sunyani. I had a lot of time to think ponder and pray over the last few days. The whole of my thoughts over the past few days have been solely focused on love, love for the Ghanaian people. Exactly two years ago today I was sitting in my mission prep class at BYU-I listening to my teacher speak, and even though I regrettably don't remember much from that class, I will never forget these words. He said "You must start your missions now by praying that the Lord he will bless you beyond your own ability, to love the people wherever you serve. If you love the people you will love your mission." And so that is exactly what I did. Almost every night before I went to sleep I prayed that wherever I served I would be blessed with love towards those people. At times I doubted that my prayers were even worthwhile. I remember thinking how can I even ask that when I didn’t know where I am going. But I continued to pray. A month or two later I received my call. I began praying that the Lord would bless me with that same love that he has towards the Ghanaian people. And I prayed and I prayed, day after day. Well the time came, and my mission began. And those first few months I had the hardest time truly loving the people the way I should have. They were just so different. I was so judgmental. But I still remember kneeling down at my bed side begging and pleading the Lord to bless me with charity and love for these beautiful people. I knew that without his help I could not do it, I could not truly love them as he did.

Over the past week this ran through my mind. As I reflected on it, it suddenly became clear to me that because we are begotten sons and daughters of our all loving Father in Heaven, we are born and inherit the same ability to love as he loves. It’s in our divine nature, we inherited that ability from our Heavenly Father. We can love as he does, it is possible. As I sat in the Sunyani Group conference on Sunday and heard Elder Vanchere who is going home bear his testimony about the love that he has for these people and how he was sad that he had to leave, and as I saw his converts cryin,g I broke down. I was overcome with emotions and tears began flowing because I knew that I had that love. In a way very similar to the way that Jesus Christ loves these people, I also love these people. All of those prayers, all of that pleading and begging that I would find within my soul that Christ like love for these people, all of those prayers were answered. I was overcome with the spirit. I always had it somewhere, but it now became so real to me. As I thought about all of my recent-converts and members that I had grown to love my heart became full, full of love towards them and towards the people of Ghana, to an extent that I knew was not possible without the help of my Heavenly Father. I now know why I love my mission so much and why it has been the greatest building block in my life. Because of love. Almost instantly my thoughts were directed to the Savior. If I love these people as much as I do, If I get worried when an investigator calls me in the middle of the night, if I dread the day that I have to leave this country knowing that maybe in this life I will never see many of them again, if i cry because they cry, if I am happy because they are happy, I can't even begin to understand how much Jesus Christ must love me. I have come to understand in a way I've never understood before, the true meaning of the atonement and why he did what he did. I feel so much closer to my Savior and feel like I know him so much better than I ever have now. Now I know what it is like for him when I sin, when I do wrong, but at the same time how happy he is when we repent. I know now why the 2nd greatest commandment is to love all men as ourselves, because when we truly learn how to do that we know God, and we love him with all our heart. Love conquers all things. Mom and dad I love my mission and these people so much that I fear, I dread the day I will have to leave them. Because of this I am beginning to feel like my time is coming to an end here in the office because I need to be out in the homes of these people, in their families, building relationships of love and giving all that I can until the end of my mission, spending time with them. I have learned so much here and I want so much to put into practice the many lessons I have learned and the skills I have acquired, and just love the people. It's been a very emotional week. At times I feel like I am missing out on the true joy that comes from teaching loving and baptizing and seeing people change their lives. That's how I want to finish my mission. But I know that I must lift where I stand and I will do whatever the Lord asks of me. It's been a great weak. My testimony has grown so much and my desire to share the gospel even more. But my love for the Ghanaian people is the true story behind my whole mission and the fountain of my joy and happiness. I can't believe I have only 4 months left. God bless you and always know that I love you.

Love Elder Adams

ps. If the circumstances are right, would it be okay if I extended?

Rockin a New Style! September 26, 2011

2011-10-12T22:29:00.001-07:00

How is it????
We were visiting a less-active women who we have been teaching and we were trying to get her to smile and be happy, so this is the only way we would get her to laugh. Sometimes you have to be creative. She is the one in the background, her name is charlotte. And she came to church today! Thought this might make you laugh a little.

Well it was another fairly normal week with a lot of time in our own area. But we started off the week on Tuesday going with Pres and Sis Shulz to do apartment checks in the Swedru Zone. Right now I know every single area, chapel, and apartment in the mission, but one. And that is Odoben which is the closest area to the Accra mission and the only place in the entire mission that I haven't been. So on Tuesday we were going there first to begin the apartment checks in the Swedru Zone. Well on the way we got false directions, and we actually ended up driving 45 min outside of our mission boundaries and into the Accra mission. And so we got lost and we never found Odoben and so I still don't know where it is and still haven't been there. Anyway it was pretty funny, not to mention President wasn't happy at all so that somehow made things even funnier. But we did find the other apartments in Swedru and we finished the apartment checks there on Tuesday and Wednesday. Then Thursday we spent most of our time in our area. Right now we kind of are going through some tough times in our area. All of our people are kinda falling like flies due to one or two things and now at the end of this week we only have 1 serious investigator left that we are still going to continue to teach. Four of them flat out lied to us and then ran away haha, so I don't think we are ever going to go back to them. So now we are somehow starting from scratch and we are going to just work hard and visit the members and see what happens. So Thursday was disappointing. Friday we did the apartment checks for the Assin Foso zone, nothing to talk about there. I guess we did finish up the transfer that night on the board and chose all of the new trainers and zone leaders etc. Saturday there was a stake football tournament and we went and watched for a bit. Moree played Bakaano and that was pretty funny to watch because I new almost everyone. Bakaano actually ended up winning the entire tournament and won like 4 or 5 games which was crazy cuz we weren’t that good, we just had a bomb goalie that blocked everything. Then the rest of the day we found out that all of our investigators weren’t all that serious and by the end of the day we didn't have much left. Kind of a tough week. Even at church we didn’t have a single investigator, which I don't think has ever happened really through my whole mission. Sunday after church we took part in some home teaching with the elders in the ward and then went around with the relief society to show them some less actives and visit some members.

Well that was about the whole week in a nutshell. So it was a bit of a downer because we have been working really hard, but to no avail. So we are hoping for a good week this week and some new investigators that will progress for us. I think it is a good humbling experience for me, it makes me pray harder and rely more on the Lord to help us through these times. Oh wait, we are going to Kumasi on Wednesday and we aren’t coming back until Sunday night!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crap I guess we will see what happens in two weeks. Well I am doing good, as for my companion I will let him email you small about himself.

Here's Elder Tadaeo.

l am brodreck tadaeo , l am from zimbabwe a city called Bindura it's under Harare Zimbabwe Mission . ln my family we are five three girls and two boys , l am the third born . Me and my sisters we are members , and my father he was a member but he died Sep 2006 . My mom she is not a member , but soon she will be when l go home . l am the first one to come on mission. l like to play cricket , american football, soccer, basketball.l like hiking , talking stories , listening to music .l am 22 years old but soon l will be 23 this coming October 29.l like reading BOMormon and other church books . l forgot one thing yaa l like joking too muchooooooooooo.l love missionary work and also working with Elder Adams he is cool elder , in my mind l awalys call him MR NICE GUY but he doesn't know that yet .

And yes he would like you to send him a package. And you can email him he would like that too, but he won't say it so I will say it for him. brodreck.tadaeo@myldsmail.net Well that is really all for this week. I love you guys and will talk to you later okay bye bye now. Nyame Nyira Wo.

Love Elder Adams

Sept. 16th, 2011

2011-10-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

Hey,

Sorry I am late with my email this week. Everything is just moving so fast around here. I got the packages that you sent yesterday, so it was like I had two birthdays one last week and one this week. But we didn't really do anything for my birthday, so basically it was just the packages. Thanks for the camera and other goodies, I will be sure to take lots of pictures okay. I can't rely on Elder Mackay to take the pictures for me any more, so I will have to start. I like the card that you picked out, I can say that it was pretty much spot on for someone like me!! I also really liked the short messages from the family and pictures. It looked like a real fun family reunion. I like how we don't have one for the 20 years that I am alive, and then once I am out of the country we throw a huge party. I SEE..... I honestly don't know who any of those kids are in those pictures though. It looked like you guys had a good time.

Well were do I start? The last two weeks we have been going around and having training meetings with all of the bishops and stake presidents in each stake. So far we have done the Kumasi Stake, Cape Coast Stake, and Assin Foso Stake which we did last night. We are teaching them how missionary work is to be run in their wards and we talked about a lot of things like ward council meetings, PEC, ward mission leaders, ward missionaries, stake coordination meetings, coordination meetings with the missionaries, and a whole lot of other stuff. A lot of them I think didn't fully understand that the Stake Pres holds the keys to the missionary work in the stake, and the bishops hold the keys to the missionary work in their wards. Basically in a round about way the purpose of the meeting was to help them to understand that they are in charge of the missionary work in the stakes and wards, not us, we are just there to help. I already know that it is going to make a big impact on the missionary work. The members are going to give a lot more referrals. Each ward set a goal for baptisms by the end of the year. Add those together and you get the stake goal, and then add those together and we have the mission goal for baptisms from Sept. to Dec. We just have one more meeting to do tomorrow and then we will have done all the stakes and it is just left to have the meeting with one of the districts and then we will have the mission goal for baptisms by the end of the year. If you were wondering our branch set a goal for 18!!!!!! And we are the only 2 elders in our branch so we got a whole lot to do! And not much time, especially for us so its going to really make us use every single solitary second that we have of our day working working working. Pray for us please! I will say that it has been interesting to see what the leaders of the wards have to say about the missionaries. A lot of things have been said, both bad and good, but mostly good. It is interesting to see what they really think though. It also made me feel pretty uneasy standing up in front of 1 stake presidency, 8 bishops and bishoprics and their ward mission leaders teaching them about their duties haha. You can imagine how I felt. But it was good and it was fun. I am a lot more comfortable standing up in front of people and talking now than I ever was.

Now that Elder Mackay is gone I have to take care of everything on the computer, which sucks, but I am getting better with the stupid machine. It just ticks me off sometimes cuz it takes me forever to figure out something that should take 5 sec. in excel. Pres has been having us put together year to date baptisms for each ward and stake and we don't have that already so we have been doing a lot of searching and finding to gather the information as accurately as possible. I tell you it not easy! But we have managed to put together 4 separate spreadsheets for the stakes and their wards baptisms so we are doing okay so far. The other big task that we started today was the upcoming transfer. We have 15 elders going home and then 19 new ones coming. That means we have to find 19 new trainers and we can’t choose any of the other 12 who are already training, and then the following transfer we have 29 elders coming meaning 29 more new trainers!!!!!!! I tell you again, it not easssyyyyyy!!!!!! haha but we are doing all we can. When those 29 elders come that is really going to be a crazy transfer.

Okay so other random things that we did this week. We counted out the subsistence for the whole mission and packaged 129 pieces of paper with money. We had a sisters workshop here at the mission home today teaching and training them which was fun. We played football, on Monday, we got a new mission van with a sweet stereo system that we can rock out in to our motab cds, its powerful. We had our last zone conference in Kumasi and then went on splits for two days with Bantama and Dichemso zones which was a lot fun. After teaching an investigator about the priesthood we gave the investigator a blessing who was having major headache problems that had gone on for a long time and she was fully healed the same night and now she has a powerful testimony of the priesthood. (even though she is still having trouble leaving her church) At church on Sunday we had 5 less-actives come that never come to church because the week before we took the relief society sisters around to do visiting teaching because they knew none of their homes. The power of visiting teaching is unreal! One of the women was one that we reactivated which was sweet.

So in short it has been a wonderfully long but very successful week and a half. I can't even begin to explain how much the Lord has truly been blessing us and especially in our area. We have 3 or 4 people who I think can be baptized within the next month or two which is great. The last 3 weeks we have had a lot of time in our area and it is really starting to pay off and I am excited. My companion is the man, I seriously love Elder Tadaeo so much. You just can’t have a bad day with the kid. He is so funny so happy so goofy and he is working hard so things couldn’t be any better. I know the church is true and I am having a great time teaching the gospel. I don't think there has ever been so much required of me before from the Lord, and at times I don't know how we keep on keepin on, but we are still keepin on because the Lord is by our side and he is there every step of the way. Because it is his work I know that there is nothing to worry about if I just do all that I can, because then he will do the rest. My family, I love you and thank you for everything. You guys are the best. Have a good week and can't wait to here from you again next week.

Lots Of Love,

Elder Adams

ps I also got the package from grandpa and grandma. Love them, thanks.

Aug. 29th and Sept. 5th

2011-10-07T12:22:00.000-07:00

On Mon, Aug 29, 2011

The family,

Well I can see that I have once again dug the hole a little deeper than before, and instead of climbing out I just keep falling back in when it comes to this emailing stuff. I can see that mom, you're a little annoyed with you son now a days haha. Sorry oooo. You know I still love you.

As for this past week I did get sick on Friday night, but by Sunday I was feeling a lot better and the malaria, if it was even malaria, was pretty much gone. I was only feeling crappy for about a day before I started to feel fine. The thing that made it not fun was we had to drive up to Kumasi on Saturday to pick those missionaries going home, the day that I wasn't feeling good. The roads are extremely bumpy and we had to drive the old mission van, which when you put those two together make for a very uncomfortable ride when you have diarrhea and a giant headache. But luckily I never spoiled my garmies. Surely a tender mercy.

Sunday we worshipped in Kumasi. We went to Bantama 2nd ward which is where I served about 3 weeks before coming to the office. Elder MacKay also served there for about 3 months before coming to the office. Pretty much nobody even remembered who I was except for like the Bishop and one or two of the other leaders in the ward, which was expected because I didn't really remember too many of them either. There was the one Lady though ( sis morgan) whos husband me and Elder Christensen reactivated who had been less active for like a decade. I was surprized, but she recognized me and remembered my name and everything and was excited to see me. So that was pretty cool. I got to talk to her for a little bit and she seemed really happy now. It makes me feel like the Lord knew me and needed me to serve there for that purpose of helping reactivate Bro. Morgan. I was only there for 3 weeks, but the Lord knew that and he understood that even if it was only 3 weeks, he had me there for a purpose. Anyway it was cool to visit Bantama. Elder MacKay got to see a lot of people he wanted to meet before he went home, it was good for him. We came back to the mission home Sunday night and then had dinner with those Elders going home. After dinner around 8 p.m. we went and taught a lesson, Elder MacKays last lesson, to a women name Rejoice. She is the wife of a member in our Branch named George Koomson, and he is somehow active but somehow less-active at the same time. He is just really busy with work and travels a lot so it is hard for him to come to church on a regular basis. But he has a strong testimony and he wants his wife to follow him to the church. She is currently attending ICGC, which is a church but I can't remember what it stands for. She is a strong member of her church. They are getting ready to do the civil marriage in her church and ICGC believes that once you are married the wife should follow the husband to his church, even if it means they have to leave ICGC. So basically George could force her to attend Our church but he is a good guy and he wants her to have a testimony and only follow him if she believes it is true. He doesn't want to force her to do anything. Rejoice has met with missionaries in the past, but she has always been reluctant to meet with them. I think she found the missionaries before to be somewhat of a burden and an annoyence. Some months back we tried to meet with her but she just told us to leave in a pretty rude way, and you could see that she didn't really want much to do with us. But we tried again about 2 weeks ago, and this time she let us in with a smile on her face. Instead of just preaching her we felt like we needed to just become friends and gain her trust before. So the first lesson we had we talked to her about her and her life and really got to know her. We left pretty good friends and now we have a strong relationship with her and she really likes us. The following lesson we felt prompted to start by teaching her the plan of salvation

SORRY I GOT REALLY BUSY JUST NOW. I will send the rest of the email tomorrow, but this way you will know that I am alive and well if I send this much :)

love elder adams

Alright I am back its only been a week haha. Well Iwill finish the email that I started last week. We taught sister rejoice about the plan of salvation from the beginning and used the bom a lot and she agreed with everything that we had taught her. It was really good bacause she saw how the bom agrees with what she already believes, and she saw that it really was a good book, not what she had thought. I have been using the bom a lot the last week in the lessons we have been teaching and on splits and it has really made my teeaching more powerful as I have really tried to use it more. Anyway since that lesson we have now taught her 2 times, that is me and elder tadaeo. Thats my new companion he is tight. I will tell you more about him later. Things are going well right now with sister rejoice. We taught her last night again, it wasn't the best lesson because she was really tired and we could only meet for a few min, but she made time for us. She is doing well.

Well thats all I can remember from last week because a lot has happened since then. This last week was zone conference and me and Elder tadaeo have given three trainings during the conferences on how to use the new training program that the brethren have jsut come out with. its a 12 week program for trainers to follow with their new trainees when they come. It is a super powerful program and I can see it will make a huge difference in all missionaries abilities to teach. The church has also mass produced thousands of mini dvd players so that every companionship in the world can have their own dvd player in the apartment to use to watch Training dvds from preach my gospel. (Talk about a lot of broken dvd players in the next few months) So that program started this last transfer and we have been busy with it. Its great. I hope the elders use the dvd players the right way, because they are powerfully effective.

So my new companion is elder tadaeo from Zimbabwe. He is seriously the funniest elder I have ever met and I love the guy to death. He has never been in a leadership position before so he has a lot to learn when it comes to how the mission runs and all that, but he is ready to work and ready to learn. He is extremely humble. Anyway we laugh all day long because he is just so funny. I am really excited for the next few transfers it will be a lot of fun and we have more time in our area to work hard. Elder Tadaeo was training in our branch, so last transfer there were 4 elders me elder mackay elder tadaeo and elder nwatu. Now its just me and elder tadaeo and we are companions. he already knows people to teach and now we just have double the work to do, its sweet. We picked up some good investigators and we are really enjoying our area right now. President and sister shulz are pretty well oriented now so we have more time to proselyte.

Right now I am emailing from elder zolls laptop in kumasi. We are about to eat dinner with pres and sister shulz and the zolls. We have the last zone conference tomorrow up here with about 50 elders and sisters to wrap things up and then we will stay for a few extra days and go on some splits with these northern zones. It will be an eventful and fun week. Sister shulz is a bomb cook and makes the best food and she said that she is going to cook me a birthday dinner, and she even said that she is going to try and make me some cheese cake. I love her. Well i can't believe I am turning 21, I still feel like since I turned 18 I just stayed there. 21 sounds old -to me. But not as old as you mom and dad. Your grandparents and empty nesters, haha now that is old. jk.

Well i think that is all for today. I love you and pray for you every day. God bless

Love Elder Adams

July 25th, 2011

2011-08-01T21:28:00.000-07:00

Family,

It was good week. It's hard not to have a good week in Ghana. This is a pretty amazing place full of wonderful faithful people. I had some very memorable experiences this week. The Moree chapel is now complete!!!!!!! They will worship on the 7th of August, and it looks so amazing. Seriously though, it is the most beautiful chapel is Ghana. Like you Dad, I am sure I am a little biased though too. So we have been invited to the opening and it will be a fast Sunday so I am sure that it will be a powerful meeting hearing the testimonies of everyone. Man, I am so excited. But Moree held a baptism there this week on Friday. It was the first ever event at the new chapel. I participated in confirming one of the children of record along with Andrew Aikins my recent convert from Moree, during the Elder Brown days, who was voice of the confirmation and blessing. It was such a neat experience to be able to lay our hands on someone as Melchizedek Priesthood holders together and to see him repeat perfectly the words of the ordinance. Someone who just a few months ago didn't even know the gospel. I can't explain how happy I am to see some of my recent converts progressing so well in the church. He is also getting married soon to a very powerful member and will be sealed before I go home. Isn't that something?!!! Well it was a good week. I am glad that you had a good week out at Smith Creek. Greet everyone for me. I love you all and the gospel is true. Just seeing how it has blessed people like Andrew is enough evidence for me to know that it is indeed true. I pray for you always. Have a great week.

Love Elder Adams

July 17th, 2011

2011-08-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

My First Big Mistake

Hey everyone, long time haha. Sorry I have been a slacker the last few weeks when it comes to emailing. One week I typed up my email and then I deleted it and was mad because I had to type it again, and I ended up actually not typing it again. And then last week I read my emails and just forgot to respond back. Sorry. We are on our way to Accra right now actually to take for missionaries back to Ivory Coast who came to our mission during the war. It’s funny that you mentioned Mom in your letter about Miles getting called on the last second to give a talk in church. We showed up to church yesterday about 10 min before it started, and about 5 min before sacrament meeting the Branch President asked me to be the first speaker and give a 15 min talk. So Paul Young wasn't lying when he said you need to be ready at any moments notice. Sometimes 5 min is all the notice you get haha.

Well when I get back from Accra I will send another email to make up for the last 3 weeks of not emailing. I am doing great and healthy as can be. So don't be trippin alright.

Love You,

Elder Adams

Well we just got back from Accra. It's about 7 pm our time. We dropped 4 missionaries at the Area office/temple, and their flight leaves tomorrow to take them back to Ivory Coast. Me and Elder Mackay took them in so that Pres. Shulz could take care of other things back here. They've been running around a 100 miles an hour the last few weeks and the last thing I am sure they wanted to do was go back to Accra for a 3rd time where it's just crazy traffic all the time and stressful. So we offered to take them in for them, just me and Elder Mackay. After we dropped them off we drove around for a little bit so that I can learn Accra a little bit better. After the Saunders and Elder Mackay go home I will be the only one who knows Accra other than the Shulz. So today me and Elder Mackay mapped out a short cut in and out of town that we didn't know before. It took us a little while and a few wrong turns, but eventually we found the road we were looking for and hopefully in the future it pays off and saves us a little bit of time on transfer days getting missionaries back a little bit earlier to the mission home from the MTC. I have been to Accra 3 times in the last 6 days. We went in last week Tuesday for transfers and came back on Wednesday with 16 new Elders, then we took 3 Elders in on Thursday who are leaving our mission and going to Ivory coast, and then 4 more leaving back to Ivory coast again today. We have been doing a lot of driving the last few days. I drove Presidents car the other day (automatic) and it felt so weird. I just kept on trying to use my left leg to push in the clutch when there obviously was none. I am pretty used to the stick now a days. But when you get to drive an automatic (presidents car) it's so glorious. Just lay back, relax, and enjoy. Driving a stick in Ghana is less comfortable because there is so much stop and go mixed with traffic (my left shoe is starting to wear out). But it is a lot of fun.

When me and Elder Mackay first started together as assistants we asked ourselves "How many big mistakes do you think we will make?". When I say big mistakes I mean crash a car, get chewed out by President, destroy an irreplaceable file, things like that. We figured that we would make a few a long the way. Well last week I made my first big mistake. In the mission we have 3 large safes. One of which contains all of the missionaries iPods they brought, some money, and other expensive personal items. The other day I was looking in that safe for a GPS system used to map out the boundaries of new groups and branches. To open the safe you unlock two bolts and then there is a combination you have to do also before it will open. So I was locking it back up and I moved the combination around in the process, which was always left untouched in the same position (I never knew). They have always left the combination and one of the locks untouched and in the correct opening position so that all you have to do is unlock one bolt and the safe opens. So anyway I moved the combination around (if you asked me why I couldn't tell you) and come to find out it hasn't been touched in over 3 years, it’s just been sitting in the correct position forever, and nobody knows the combination!!!!! So the safe was now locked and nobody knew the combination. Inside were all of the missionary’s iPods, cameras, and the Saunders money!!! BAD SITUATION! But I didn't know what I had done. I just went on with my day like normal thinking nothing of it. Until the next day when Sister Saunders went in to open the safe and realized what had happened as she couldn't open it. She wasn't too excited about it. So I heard from President Shulz that Sister Saunders was a little little angry because somebody had moved the combination and she couldn't open it. The second President Shulz told me that I just had one of those bad feelings you get when you know you did something really stupid and you are in for it! So I went over to the office and told Sister Saunders it was me (totally expecting the worst). She didn't really lay into me to much, just kinda made me realize I was an idiot for not asking how to open the safe haha, which was true. Sister Saunders is just a sweetheart! Nothing really seems to get her too upset, and we all know having me and Elder Mackay in the office she has all the right to be upset, annoyed, ect. haha. So she emailed President Sabey and asked him if he knew the combination. He didn't!!!! But he did think that maybe there was a piece of paper somewhere in his office that might have the combination on it. I found it and with my fingers crossed went and tried the combination listed on the safe. Turned out that we got the safe open, thank goodness!! So that was my first real big mistake I think that I've made so far, moving the combination to the safe that hasn't been touched in more than 3 years. At least the first big mistake to my knowledge, I’m sure there are many more. But on the plus side now we know the combination thanks to my stupidity. Anyway I thought you might get a kick out of that.

Things are a little bit different now. We don't get to do much proselyting these days because we have a bigger responsibility in teaching President and Sister Shulz everything that we know and helping them the best we can. They are doing great and really they don't need much of our help. We have been spending a lot of time with them and they are really great people. They are so faithful. This is their third mission and you can just see how they will do anything for the Lord. It is different and I really miss teaching investigators a lot. I think we have only had 2 half days in our area the last 3 or 4 weeks, but I can really see where we are needed right now and I am so glad to be able to help in whatever way they need us to. I forgot to say that we went to the temple again and it was so sweet. There were so many things that I understood that I never before noticed or thought about. It was a real spiritual boost being able to go to the temple. When I leave I feel so much more driven to be the best I can. The last few months have been full of really great experiences and I really have been learning a lot, not just about church, but about life. There is just so much you learn as a young kid serving around great couples like the Saunders, the Shulz, the Zolls, the Sabeys, the Lambs, the Bennets, etc. A mission is a great thing. Well mom and dad, I don’t know what else to tell you. Things are going really good. I can feel the pressure a little bit as the Saunders are going home and Elder Mackay too, but I am not too worried cuz the Lord will make it all work out. I am healthy and doing really well. I love you guys and I am so grateful for all that you do for me. I pray for you daily. This email is the beginning of a repentance process, so you can expect an email weekly unless something crazy ridiculous happens, it is Ghana so there’s a chance. I love and miss you.

Love Elder Adams

Accomplishing Mission Goals (3 new posts)

2011-07-12T22:59:00.000-07:00

June 26, 2011

Dear Fam,

Another week has flown by. The weeks of late have been just flying bye so fast. I can't believe how fast the time is going. It's just ridiculous. It is really starting to freak me out because before I know it I am going to be finished with my mission! Having the Sabey’s, Saunders and Elder Mackay all finishing their missions within the next 8 weeks doesn't help. It doesn't feel right, it's gone to0 fast. I still feel like I just got here. I do not want to leave my mission, I love it so much, and maybe my email this week will shed some light on why. On why this has been the greatest and most cherished time of my life. But I still have about 7 months, thank goodness!!!!

Well we have officially finished our mission goal to have every missionary in this mission baptize someone who has a family member in the church, and then to also help a family to be sealed in the temple! I can now relax and breathe!!!!!! Can you believe that, who would have ever thought that was even possible? Could you imagine if you tried to do that in any other mission in the world, it would be impossible. To have 68 families get sealed in the temple in only about 4 and half months. And have 68 companionships baptize someone who has a family member in the church already. It just blows my mind. The people of Ghana have so much faith. There is no other place like this in the whole world. In the last 17 months I have never met someone who doesn't believe in God. And I can count on my fingers the number of times someone has rudely rejected me. Ghana is just different. During this goal the adversary has made many attempts in trying to block our way, to stop us if you will from accomplishing this goal. We had all of the Ivoirians come to the temple for refuge, and during that time we couldn't send people to the temple so that made the goal even harder. We had 10 families go to the temple and not get sealed because of paper work problems, miscommunication, etc. One family even did proxy sealings and thought they did their own. We had families just this last week prepared to go who said they weren't able to go now. Just everything that could go wrong went wrong. But that didn't stop us. That didn't stop this goal that the Lord had given us from being accomplished. We worked around all of those things. We helped each other. We found families in other areas and we prepared backups and even this last week we had 3 backups for every companionship who hadn't finished. We made sure they had recommends, family group records, correct records, busses scheduled to get them there, everything we could possibly do, we did. And because we did everything we could possibly do, we put ourselves in a position where we knew that the Lord could, and would do the rest. We saw miracle, after miracle, after miracle. We saw families make sacrifices; we had families call us out of the blue saying that they wanted to go to the temple to be sealed, and to be sealed on the day the goal ends!!!! And on the 25th of June the Nyanka family helped the last companionship finish as they were sealed in the temple with their young boy!! A family who called us out of the blue, and who without we would never have accomplished this goal. I have learned so much from this goal. But if I have learned one thing, I have learned that this is the Lords work and not ours. I learned more than anything that when we do all that we can do the Lord will do the rest. And that is exactly what happened, and it was amazing. It was remarkable. My mission has changed the way I look at life. I know this is the only true church upon this earth. I know this work we are doing is not our own. It is our Father in Heavens, and we are so privileged to be instruments in his hands. Nothing brings me more joy or satisfaction than to help him in his work.

Today we just had President and Sister Sabey’s last zone conference. It was sad, and it is going to be hard to see them go. I have come to love President Sabey and Sister Sabey so much. I have never met better people. I am so grateful to have served with them and to have gotten to know them as much as I have. President Sabey will do anything for the lord. I learned so much from him and I am going to miss them so much. Being his assistant has been great. We just finished having dinner with the Sabey’s and the Saunders, probably for the last time. We made the Sabey’s a video of each companionship in the mission and it was really neat. Some sang songs, some made jokes, some said goodbye, and some did really good impersonations of Pres. and things like that. We put it in and watched it with them after dinner and they loved it. Then we had ice cream. We had great time tonight with them. After the video we sat around and we just talked. Everyone there will be going home soon so I am kind of hanging around, and pretty soon it will be just me and President Shulz and a new office couple. That's when it finally dawned on me that they are going. Man I am going to miss them so much. I don't believe there has ever been a greater mission president than President Sabey.

So the Shulz’s will be arriving on Wednesday and the Sabey’s will be going home on Thursday of this week. Things are going to really change around here. It will be sad but at the same time it will be so exciting. I am really looking forward to serving with President Shulz and Sister Shulz and I know that I will learn so much from them and come to love them just the same way I love the Sabey’s. It's gunna get crazy around here in the next few months. I am really looking forward to it and can't wait to meet the Shulz’s.

Holy shnikeze!!! What a week you had. I can only imagine how stressful that was. And I think that some days for me are stressful, but I can only imagine what that was like. I talked about doing all we can and then the Lord will do the rest, and I think you can understand what I am talking about by recent personal experience. Sorry about the crazy mess, but at least it wasn't anything that you did. I am glad things turned out okay. Well Tristin you should just name the baby Garrett because that is the most powerful name that starts with a G and anything else would just be a step down. jk. But I hope everything goes well and that the baby isn't ugly, haha okay jk again. That wouldn't happen with our genetics. Well I hope you have a better week this week mom and dad and that things are a little less stressful. I love you guys so much. I pray that the Lord will bless you everyday. Take care and God bless.

Love Elder Adams

ps. I got the packages. Thanks so much. The back brace works! Love you.

pss. The answer to the Holland question was the latter one you gave. You got it!

June 20, 2011

2011-07-12T22:57:00.000-07:00

My family,

Well it’s been another crazy exciting week. We've seen many miracles this week and had many great experiences. The goal ends this week so things are getting down to the wire, but we only have 6 elders left to complete. We will accomplish this goal. Sorry I haven't emailed, to be honest I forgot to email last week. Sometimes I forget what day is p day and then I forget that I was supposed to email. Well we got back late last night from zone conference in Kumasi, Presidents last conference, but it was really good, so that’s why I didn’t email yesterday. I love you and I just want you to know that I am doing great so don't worry about me. I hope the shingles get better this week paps, and forgive me for the late Happy Fathers Day, but just know that you are the best father a son could ever ask for, I love you. Hope you had a good day and enjoyed that lobster. I love you all and hope that you have a great week and that you enjoy Disneyland or whatever it is that you are going to do. The church is true and it really is moving forward in this wonderful country. The Lord is blessing this land tremendously due to the faith of these God fearing people. It's a wonderful place to be. I couldn't think of anything I would rather be doing than serving amongst these people. It’s changed my life forever. Talk to you next week, if not maybe the one after that ha.

Love Elder Adams

June 6, 2011

2011-07-12T22:54:00.000-07:00

My Family,
Well it's been only a few days since I last emailed so there’s not a whole to tell, but I got a little something. This last week was Zone Leader Council which is usually a mini version of zone conference where President gives us a little instruction. But before he instructs us we will discuss a few things with all of the zone leaders. Our main focus right now is the current goal that we are working on, which is to have ever missionary help a family go to the temple and get sealed. Sounds impossible right? That's a 130 + missionaries, and in Ghana its hard to get people to travel that distance and pay that amount of money many don’t have.. Well we are down to about 10 left, maybe a few more, and we only have 3 weeks left to complete. It's getting a little to close for comfort. We had many families go to the temple this week, but for some reason 5 of them that actually went ended up not getting sealed for a few different reasons of paperwork or something. Now the reason why I make the goals in this mission seem like such a big deal is because when we set a goal we are going to accomplish it!! There is no way that we won't accomplish a goal, unless by our own disobedience because President Sabey only sets goals given to him by the Lord that are meant to be accomplished! It's true! President Sabey has set 8 goals and every single one has been accomplished, many of which were accomplished on the last day, and many of which required great miracles. That’s different than many missions. Many missions set high goals for baptisms and never accomplish them. So right now this is really our main focus. And one of the families who still needs to go is mine and Elder Mackay’s candidate. Anyway, after we discussed thatPresident taught us about something I found very very interesting. He quoted Elder Holland who said " we are to accustomed to 220 volts of M.
Priesthood power being forced through what should be 110 volts of Aaronic Priesthood power" He was talking about Bishops when he said that. I will let you see if you can figure out what he means. But it is definitely something that is true about the church in many places. Tell me what you come up with. We also talked about how in a democracy it is run from the bottom up. Meaning that the people elect their leaders, and it’s the people who ultimately decide. That is also true in many, or you could say all other churches. But in the Lords kingdom it is run from the Top down. Meaning that all things come from God first, then the prophet and so on and so forth. Just another small piece of evidence verifying that the church is true. We went on to talk about meetings and he is another quote you might like. "It takes a darn good meeting to beat no meeting at all," President Packer.

That was pretty much the highlight of the week. Other than that we had a few days in our area, and they were very productive. We have a few really good people to teach right now and hopefully we can prepare someone for baptism soon. I am getting frustrated small with it because we have such a limited amount of time in our area it is really hard to make much happen and keep investigators progressing when we don't see them for weeks at a time sometimes. But we are managing and things are getting better. One of the apostles said that "Assistants should be powerful master teachers that you can send to any corner of the mission to help lift and encourage and teach other missionaries in need" I read that and I thought "are you kidding me". Master teacher! That is a high expectation. So of late I don't care about learning doctrine, reading the scriptures just to read them, but all I am working on is becoming a master teacher by working on my teaching weaknesses and studying PMG a lot so I can do what that apostles expects. I know it is hard to become a master of it but I can become much better.

You were saying that the mission presidents send a letter saying that one of the elders form the ward received a position in the mission. Well I can tell you the reason why President Sabey doesn't send one of those is because he hates the "mission ladder" and in this mission there is no mission ladder. I can attest to that. He hates aspiring to positions too. And he is right in all of those. It's wrong. It goes back to the way the Lord governs the kingdom from the top down. There is no reason to send one of those letters if you ask me. It sends the wrong message, as if one missionary is more important. We were all called to me missionaries, not to be zone leaders or assistants. Some of the best missionaries in this mission have never had a position; it's just where the Lord wants them to serve. I am just guessing that that is why President Sabey doesn’t send out any letter, because to him position means nothing about who you are, it's an opportunity to serve. Not that what leaders do isn't important, but he wants to send the right message, that we are equal missionaries. Well that was a little much, but I believe that is why you haven't ever received a letter from our mission. I would have to agree with it.

Well I just want you all to know that I have a testimony of this gospel, of the church, and of the Prophet Jospeh Smith. I know it’s true. How grateful I am for the atonement. Though I may not comprehend how he suffered for us all I know he did, and I am grateful with ever fiber of my heart. He taught us how to live, how to love, and how to die. He has secured our salvation. I love you and pray that the Lords choicest blessings be upon you.

Love Elder Adams

Catching up again! June 1, 2011

2011-06-28T22:38:00.000-07:00

Well we just got back from Accra and finished orientation with the new missionaries at the mission home and then took care of transfers, making sure everyone got to there various areas. It was a great trip to Accra. The temple was really sweet and I was able to get 2 sessions in on Tuesday. Man I love the Accra Temple. I drove too, around, and back home from Accra so that was pretty crazy, but fun. Driving a stick in traffic for hours really kills your left leg man! It was an experience for sure. We stayed at the MTC and I got to see the Froerers which was sweet. They are awesome. The Lambs also went home this week which was sad because they were so awesome and I really enjoyed having them around. The most selfless people I have ever met. It will be hard to replace them. They are great people. I love them so much. It's been a busy few days but the stress of transfers is over and done with so that is kind of nice. That's one thing off the to-do-list. I do love getting to meet all of the new missionaries they always have a great spirit when they come from the MTC. It's kind of late and I don't want to spend to much time emailing, we still have a number of things we need to do tonight before we finish for the day. Happy Birthday paps! You getting old in years, but you still got the energy of teenager. It seems like you never stop going. I hope you have a great day! Your examples strengthen me and keep me going. The church is true. How privileged we all are to be engaged in such a wonderful work. Trust in the Lord and he will guide us all. I love you guys and wish you the best this next week.

Love-
Elder Adams

Monday May 23, 2011

2011-06-28T22:31:00.001-07:00

Adams Family,
Well let me start off once again by apologizing for not emailing last week. It's somehow becoming a regular thing; me apologizing weekly, whether it's not emailing, not telling you something, or forgetting someone’s birthday I seem to miss something on a weekly basis. So I apologize in advance for this week’s mistakes haha.

So the reason that I didn't email last week was because we went on splits in Assin Foso, Dichmeso, Bantama, and Sunyani zones the whole of last week beginning on Thursday and we ended up being in Sunyani on Monday. It was a crazy road trip. On that Monday in Sunyani we got my drivers license. Yup, I can drive! I have been driving a stick now for about 6 days and I can get along just fine, now it's just a matter of making everything become natural where I don't have to think about what I am doing. I have been doing all of the driving just so that I can practice. Today I drove a big group of missionaries in the mission van to Takoradi to play some football and then back home afterward. I think I am getting the hang of it. I think that I will be driving in Accra next Monday so we will see what happens when I get thrown into the fire, but really I am not too worried. After we got my license in Sunyani we drove back down to Kumasi and stayed the night there because Tuesday morning we were starting the first of the four zone conferences. So this past week was zone conference week. We did Kumasi on Tuesday which was about 52 missionaries, and then Abura and Swedru on Wednesday which was about 22 missionaries, and then Takoradi on Thursday which was about 28 missionaries, and we finished up on Friday with Cape Coast and Assin Foso which was about 30 missionaries. It was a long but very enjoyable week. The experience of being able to instruct was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed seeing the differences between the four conferences and how each time something different would come to mind that you didn't think of in the previous conference. I was a little nervous at the 1st conference but then after I got the 1st one out of the way and gained a little more confidence in my instruction things went a lot smoother and I really began to have fun teaching it. I think I am beginning to see what you meant dad when you said that you loved teaching in zone conferences and stuff like that. Once I get a little more comfortable with it I think I will really start to love it just like you did. Overall President Sabey said that he was pleased with how the conferences went and feels that they really put across the message that we were trying to relay to the missionaries. If you are wondering we instructed about asking inspired questions and teaching people not lessons. But the way we presented it I thought was really sweet.

Sunday was Stake and District conferences which both went really well. We went and listened to President Sabey speak at district conference and then we all went over to the stake conference where he also spoke. There were too many people for the stake center to fit! The stake really needs to be divided soon because it is getting really big. With the rest of our free time during the week we just took care of the things in the office that we hadn't done over the week and then we spent time in our own area teaching a few of our investigators which was nice, because that doesn't happen as much as I wish it did. Right now we are preparing for transfers which is next week so we will probably spend a lot of time at the transfer board figuring it all out this week. We have 16 greenies coming this next week so we will have to find a lot of people to train and stuff like that. It's going to start getting pretty crazy around here pretty soon. We have a new couple coming on the 7th and another one July 1^st. I believe, as well as President Sabey going home. So things are going to get busy and things are really going to change as well, it should be interesting. I will be the only one really who gets to see all of the changes happen and see the direction things go assuming that I stay in the office for a while when President Shulz gets here. So it’s exciting for sure. The Lambs are going home next week which is sad because they are really amazing people and I wish I could have gotten to know them a little bit better than I did. They have already done a lot for me and Elder MacKay just in the short time that I have known them. You should probably thank them for all that they have done for your wonderful son!!! I am sure she has a blog somewhere. You should probably thank the Saunders too if you can. They take real good care of us. Other than that there is nothing real crazy or worth my time or yours to tell so that’s all from me this week.

So I should probably say congrats to Miles on the state championship (Nevada 3A Golf) that's big time! It must be a different feeling now that the town is winning all of these state championships and stuff. It must have a whole different attitude than the expecting to lose every game syndrome they used to have haha. So it looks like I am just the failure child when it comes to sports. Tristin is, well, she is in her own league we all know that, Whitney played college volleyball so she's a baller, and Miles won a state championship and is a baller in golf, and then you have me haha. Nothing to show for my 4 yrs of high school haha. Well I am not complaining it doesn't get any better than what I am doing right now! I wouldn't want to be doing anything else right now. The church here in Ghana is growing so fast and it is the people of Africa's time to receive the gospel so I am just glad to have the opportunity to see the gospel come to this part of the world and bless so many lives. It truly has been the best 15 months of my life and boy am I glad it's not over. The church is true and how grateful I am for the testimony the Lord has blessed me with to know that with such surety! Thanks for everything and I hope that you have another fantastic week back in F-Town. As for me everything is peachy so don't worry, at least for another week......... haha

Love Elder Adams

Mother's Day Call 5-9-11

2011-06-28T22:28:00.000-07:00

Well we had a good chat. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!!!!!!!! I hope it was a fine one. Sounds like everyone is doing really well and I am glad to hear that Paul and some others are going on a mission. Well I hope its okay but I am not going to write much this week. I think we covered most of it yesterday. Well I love you all and I am grateful for your support and encouragement. May the Lord continue to bless us all. Have a great week. I am going right now to play some small basketball down at the beach side Ghanaian Rucker Park with a bunch of hoodlums. Hopefully I still got a little game left, so wish me luck. Love you all. PEACE.

Love Elder Adams

May 2, 2011 Catching up emails from the last month.

2011-05-02T22:08:00.000-07:00

Fam

Shoot it felt like it was just Monday yesterday and its already been a week. Time is going way faster now than ever. At first it was going really slow, especially my first week here because of all the stuff that we had going on, but now it is all going really fast once I got used to the schedule. That's crazy that they shot Osama! It's about time they did, but I can see how that might help Obama maybe win the election again or something so it could be bad now that he thinks he is the man. Well as for the phone call it would probably work best for me if I could call you around 7:00 pm my time so exactly noon your time only because we have to get numbers for the whole mission beginning about 8 to 8:30 or so. So really that is the only time that I am available so I hope that works for you. Well in 1 month you will be finished with school and you will have all of you kids out of the house very soon, how does that make you feel?? OLD???? haha jk but really that is pretty crazy. So what exactly is Miles going to do and when does he plan on going on a mission and all that. He could actually leave right before I got home from my mission if he really wanted to. You might want to make a list of things that you want to ask me when you we talk because I will only be able to talk for a small amount of time. So make it worth it. Well I guess there is no point in asking you any questions because I can just wait until Sunday to ask.

Well as for me I had another great week. Things are just so much different and at times you don't feel much like a missionary because you don't have all that much time in the area because of travel and other things, but it is always full of sweet experiences that you couldn't have any other way. I love it. I still don't have a drivers license I tell you more about that. Um, we went on splits this week in Takoradi and we got to spend a lot of time with the Lambs and man are they sweet. I have never gotten to know them my whole mission and even when I became an assistant they didn't really even know who I was. But I am glad I got to know them a little bit they are great people, and man can Sister Lamb cook!!!! They leave at the end of this month. Other than that, not much else to tell for the week that I won't talk to you about on the phone. I got my package with the jump rope and then the one with the food. Thanks!!! The one with the tie from Jeff or whatever you said still hasn't come yet. IDK about that one. I used the jump rope today and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I have a long way to go before I can come home, because I ain't coming home like this haha. We also had a long conversation with President and Sister Sabey on Saturday evening, mostly with Sister Sabey though. I could tell that she really enjoyed it because since we became assistants she hasn't really gotten a chance to talk and get to know us personally. We just talked about dating, marriage, Ghana, and all kinds of other things. It was really fun and they are such wonderful people. Well that is all for this week. I love you and look forward to hearing from you. You are they best family a son could ask for. I love you and hope all is well. Talk to you later.

Love Elder Adams

April 24,11 Easter

2011-05-02T21:14:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter,
Well sorry about the email last week I can see that you guys aren't too happy about that. I wrote a really long email last week but it didn't get through to you, sorry about that I will make sure that this weeks gets sent to you.

Well this week was pretty dang awesome. We had 10 missionaries go home and only 2 new missionaries come in. On Monday we had the 10 missionaries going home come to the mission home and we weighed their luggage, had a big dinner, had a testimony meeting, and then they each had their final interview with President Sabey. We got to bed early because we had to wake up at 3 am and then be leaving the mission home by 4 am to get to the temple in time for us to do a session and then get to the airport. So Elder Mackay drove the whole way to Accra, I still don't have my license. You have never driven in traffic until you have driven in Accra, it is insane!!! I am not as excited to drive anymore after seeing how crazy it was. Eventually we got to the temple around 8 in the morning and we were able to get into the 8:30 session. Man was it sweet to be back in the temple. It had been so long. It was amazing how much I have learned about the temple during my mission, more than I had realized. It was a really sweet feeling being at the temple and I can't wait until next transfer to go again. Now I probably had one of the sweetest if not the sweetest day of my mission at the temple on Monday. As I was walking out of the changing room of the temple I passed Bro. and Sis. Mackay, Bro Pratt, Bro. Nyan and a whole bunch of other people from Moree Ward. It was crazy I hadn't seen them in forever. The Moree Ward was on a temple trip. Bro. Pratt told me in the temple as we were talking that some of my recent-converts were at the temple with them too and that he wanted to take us to go and see them. They were all sitting in the waiting room of the temple getting ready to head to the baptistry. I opened the door to the waiting room and saw 6 of my recent-converts from Moree all sitting there. It was so awesome, I don't think I have ever seen anything sweeter than that. It was such a cool thing to see how so many of the people that I taught in Moree are still going strong and are at the temple. We weren't in any rush to get to the airport or anything because people weren't leaving for a while so I was able to spend time with them and talk. I hope you haven't forgotten Andrew Aikins already. He was there and I talked to him for a long time. He is currently dating a girl from Moree who is a strong member and they are planning on getting sealed early next year. I saw the both of them at the temple. I still can't get over how FREAKIN sweet that day was. But it still wasn't over. After the temple we left with everyone and went to a nice restaurant to eat lunch and then we headed to the MTC to stay for the night before sending the missionaries off in the morning and picking up the 2 greenies. Somewhere along the way we lost 3 of the missionaries going home because they lived in Ghana so we released them that night, and the rest of us stayed at the MTC. Oh, yeah, as we were driving from the temple to the airport we realized that we were driving the complete opposite direction of where we were going and we were somehow lost in Accra, not a good place to be lost. But don't worry with our super navigation skills and a giant 5 ft map we found our way to the MTC after some time. I got to see President and Sister Froerer, the MTC president and talk with them for a while which was really sweet. I was only the 2nd group they had in the MTC so they were excited to see me and see how the mission was going. Temple, MTC, Froerers, and good food made for one heck of a day!

Wednesday morning we went and dropped everyone at either the airport to go home or the temple. We sent home 2 Ivorians as well, Elder Yapo and Elder Vanie. The Borders were still closed to Ivory Coast so we left the 2 Elders with the big group of Ivorians who were stuck at the temple. Many Ivorians have been stranded at the temple because the borders were closed when they came for their temple trip about a month ago or so. The temple is a great place of refuge though. They left on Thursday with the big group of Ivorians from the temple to try and get back over the border, and I am still yet to hear whether they made it back safely. After we finished everything in Accra we drove back home and got the new missionaries oriented and sent to their various areas. Elder Brown in from Ghana and Sister Chivenge is from Zimbabwe. They are both really sweet. So the rest of Wednesday we helped with transfers making sure that everyone who was transferred got on the right bus and made it to wherever they were transferred. So that is how a normal transfer usually goes. It's a 3 day event for us, but man was it sweet. As for the rest of the week it was a pretty normal week. We spent time in the office with the Saunders doing small paper and computer stuff like checking baptism records and following up on records that we haven't received. Our truck had another problem again and so we took it to the shop again to get fixed. I am so glad that I am not driving yet because the truck keeps on breaking down. It makes it look like it's all Elder Mackays fault because I don't have a license haha. I am just hoping that he gets everything fixed and ready for me by the time I drive so that I don't have any problems with it haha. I tried to go and get my license this week but the man wouldn't allow me to get a license because I am white. Yeah, he was very racist, so we have to go to Takoradi and try and get me a license there because the people in Cape Coast won't give me one. We also became professional movers this week and moved out an entire apartment for a few days and transported it to another apartment.

Sunday was sweet. We went over to the Saunders to eat diner, they invited us over for enchiladas and ice cream. Man was it powerful, I haven't eatin anything like that in so long!! The whole food thing is becoming a bit of a problem though. I eat so much good food now that I have gained about 10 lbs back since becoming an assistant. I am a little worried about what I might look in the next few months haha. I do love the Saunders so much, they are so cool to be around and to learn from, plus they take dang good care of us.

Well it was a super sweet but crazy fast week. Where does the time go??? Well I will finish my email a little later and add some other things you want to know about because I need to give Sister Saunders her computer back. But that was about the whole of the weeks events. Sweet right???

Love Elder Adams

Oh yeah as for the two missioanries in Accra, they were released. The appeal was overturned. As for how much pres Sabey had in that I don't really know to be honest, but I do know that he was involved. He was always telling us how the evidence they had against them was basically nothing and what they could do to prove the case in their favor. And so I think he kinda helped them see those things and then eventually the judge agreed I guess. I am not a man of law though, so don't ask me. All I know is that that is so sweet to hear that they have been released. They have been in our prayers for so long. The Lord really does hear our prayers. Oh and I found my chip today with all of the pictures and I am going to burn a disc tonight I think. It should be on your doorstep in a matter of just a few weeks. I think there is a little more than 250 pictures or so, not a whole lot but that's all I have taken. Okay love you, bye bye.

Okay I'm back. Well maybe I will just take a minute to answer a few of your questions. We live at the mission home with the Sabey’s. We have our own little apartment that is across the yard from the Main mission home where the Sabey’s stay, but in the same compound. That way they still have their privacy. In the compound there is the mission home, our apartment, the office, and then a big drive way for us to park our cars and then a big lawn kind of like ours at home. It's a nice place. I am going in tomorrow to get my license in Takoradi. We are going on splits there Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week, and then out to Swedru for splits on Friday (about 2 hour drive from Takoradi) then we should be back at the mission home by late Friday evening. So I am excited to learn how to drive a stick just so that when I get home I will be able to drive any car. I have been practicing a little bit and I got it down, I just have to get to where I am smooth and comfortable with it. Right now President Sabey is in Nigeria for a mission president training seminar and so he will be gone all week. So, it’s just us and the Saunders for the week. Umm what else can I tell you. Our schedule is a lot different than a normal missionary in that we often leave the apartment by 7 in the morning and get back as late as 11 in the evening depending on what we are doing that day. For a normal missionary you leave the apartment at 10 and come back by 9. It’s kind of like we just have a check list and when we finish everything that needs to be done that day then we go to our area and proselyte. I love being an assistant because we have such ample opportunity to learn from and watch the Sabey’s and the Saunders, not to mention all of the great experiences and everything else that comes with the assignment. But part of me really misses being able to have all day in your area to teach and be with your investigators and members. I miss teaching more than anything right now. I never realized how much I loved teaching until now. It really has become my favorite part of missionary work I love it so much. Two of my investigators from Atonsu were baptized this last week which was sweet. The powerful woman in the wheelchair, Anita, was baptized. Man I miss her so much she is one of my favorite investigators ever. I also think I miss Atonsu more than any of my areas so far. That place is so awesome.

Well, as for President Sabey, he goes home in 3 months or so and we get a new mission president, President Shulz. From what I have gathered I will be here for when he comes if nothing changes and will be smack dab in the middle of a new mission pres, new office couple, and really just new everything because the Saunders are going home just after the Sabey’s and another couple the Lambs go home the end of May. So it is going to be sad to see them go, especially the Sabey’s, but sweet to see how the transition is made with a new mission president and also to get to know President Shulz. It’s going to be an exciting time for sure. Right now I just want to learn as much as I can from the Sabey’s before they go and build a good relationship with them , they are such awesome people. The mission is also expanding and we are going to have 164 missionaries in our mission soon too, I think, they want it to get more missionaries because we are opening so many new places and going to new cities. I can't think of a more exciting mission to be in right now than this mission. I freakin Love it!!!!!!!!!

Well I hope that is a better update on everything. Sorry it took so long. I am just glad I am across the world so you can't yell at me to much, because I know you want to haha. Well I love you guys and I love hearing from you ever week, it is definitely a highlight. Well its getting late now and I better run, we still got a few things to do before the day is over. I love you and you’re always in my prayers. Keep moving forward and do your best, that's all the Lord asks from us. Take care and God bless the Adams family!!!!

LOVE ELDER ADAMS

April 18, 2011

2011-05-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

SORRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SORRRRRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SORRY!!!!!!!
HAPPY LATE BITHDAY MOM! okay so I knew that it was your birthday but things are so different now and I had so much going on in my mind and so many things to do around the mission I totally forgot what the date was and even what month it was. So I didn't forget that your birthday was on the 6th I just lost track of time. But Happy Birthday anyway, I hope it was a good one. Now I was going to send my pictures home last 2 weeks because now that I am in the mission office it would be really easy to do. Problem is when I came down to Cape from Kumasi I lost my memory card!!!!!!!!!!!! And now I am so mad and I am still searching for it. So I had a lot of pictures to send home and now they are lost. Please don't freak out, I will find it somehow. Sorry that's not much of a birthday present I know, but love you and that's all that
matters!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Love Elder Adams

ps. You can't even get mad at me for forgetting, at least not too much, because it just means I have lost myself in the work, right? haha
pss. I hope you email back sometime!!

Aprill 11, 2011

2011-05-02T21:04:00.000-07:00

Well things are going really sweet around here right now. This past week has been a pretty eventful one. As you know transfers are only once every 6 weeks, but this past transfer we have had an "emergency transfer", as we call. Then this last week we had another transfer and who knows maybe we will have one this week too. We had a pretty interesting call on Thursday night around 11:30 pm that one of the missionaries apartments had been broken into and everything they had was stolen. So we went over to the apartment late that night and found the two Elders sitting in their room really down because all of their belongings and money and pictures was stolen. We looked around the apartment and found some of their things and saw that the robbers cut a hole in the roof and came down, packed everything in the Elders suitcases and then carried it all out the front door. So they stayed the night at the mission home with us that night and then the next morning we helped them move all of their beds and other things like that into another missionary apartment the next day. Something I got to get used to is receiving crazy random calls to go and help with things like that. But it really makes things interesting and exciting anyway.

This week was also interview week so we went to all of the different cities in the zone to do interviews with President Sabey. I really enjoy the time that I have to ride with Pres. and Sister Sabey around the mission because the whole time that we are driving we just get to talk openly and freely with President about anything, and he often takes the time to teach us important things that he has learned and things that will help us a lot when we go home. Those long drives with them have turned into one of the greatest learning experiences of my life, its so sweet. Over the last week I have also noticed that President puts all of his trust in us and never worries about us. It really just makes me want to be that much more spot on and do everything right because he really does expect us to be the leaders of the mission and he trusts us with every assignment 100 percent. It's like he is my new father and because he has so much trust in me I never want to let him down as his son because I want to be what he expects. It really is a cool thing. He leaves a lot of things up to us. With the transfer that happened this week all 3 of us sat in front of the transfer board for some time and discussed about the missionaries and what changes we thought we should make. We do have a lot of say in what happens too because he trusts that we know the missionaries really well and because we served with many of them we might have some insights. That is also really sweet. The funny thing is I still haven’t met 40 percent of the missionaries in the mission until this past week, so that makes it hard sometimes to give ideas and insights during transfers.

The mission home is really sweet being able to be in the office with the Saunders a lot and just talking to them. They also invite us to eat with them a lot and so we are pretty spoiled a lot of the time. Transfers are next Monday so next week we will get to go to Accra and then to the temple so I am really excited for that too. Still haven't got my license should do that within the next week if possible but we really just don't have time.

I can say that the past week was exhausting. I have never been so physically and mentally drained my whole mission. Every night I just fall asleep in my clothes because I am too tired to change. They do say that it is like that for a while until you get used to the whole schedule so I am hoping by the end of this week of the next I get used to it. However it is a great feeling to be dog tired at the end of the day because you sleep like a baby!!! The last week has been the best week of sleep my entire life!!! The air conditioner in the apartment does help too haha. Well this week we will be going on splits all over the mission and we will be doing a lot of traveling to so it should be fun. The work is a little bit different now but it is really one heck of a learning experience is many aspects. We still get to proselyte in our area, we do have an area, and that is in the evenings that we have free. We try and be there about 30 percent of the time. We are currently preparing a family of 6 to go to the temple and be sealed and then another family also so it is really sweet. Our investigators are lacking a little because we have small time to find but the ones we do have a sweet.

I hope you have a great week in China dad and enjoy the culture there. The images you sent I can't view them because we don't have the right program on our computer. The church is true and I am really loving this chance to be in full service of what I know to be true. I hope you have a good week and everything goes well. I love you all. God Bless.

Love
Elder Adams

Elder Adams now an AP April, 4 2011

2011-04-25T18:02:00.000-07:00

Fine Morning,
Well it sounds like you are all doing really well. As for me the last few months have been pretty crazy as you know. Opening up the new group in Atonsu and then being called to be a zone leader in Bantama brought a lot of excitement to the work. It's been a really awesome past 3 weeks in Bantama and I have had some of the coolest experiences of my mission in these past 3 weeks.

First we had zone council this week so we traveled to Cape Coast on the bus on Tuesday morning and we arrived there that evening and we enjoyed dinner with the Sabey's and the Saunders and the Assistants. It was sweet. We slept over that night in the mission home the 4 of us Zone leaders from Kumasi, and then we had Zone Leader Council the next morning with all of the Zone leaders in the mission. After eating lunch following the zone leader council, we got back on the bus and went back to Kumasi. We arrived there late that Wednesday evening. It was a fun, but long and tiresome few days.

Second I would like to tell you about a guy named Bro. Morgan and this Sunday. I told you a little bit about him last week and the lesson that we had with him. Well here is the background to his story again. He became a member of the church more than 10-15 years ago, I'm not sure how long exactly. Through his conversion to the church his whole family also followed him and they were all baptized including all of the kids, 5 kids in number. Very solid family. Now fast forward to today.... his whole family is super powerful and active except him, he has been less-active for more than 10 years now. His wife is currently the 1st councilor in the Relief Society Presidency and is super powerful, and some of the kids are preparing for mission and all of the kids are fully active and love the church. Missionaries have been teaching and going to visit him for more than 5-6 years I think. So when we got to him he didn't really want to hear a whole lot from us, but then we had that super powerful lesson with him last week Sunday and he promised to come to church this week! WELL HE CAME!!!!!!!!! THE WHOLE FAMILY CAME AND SAT TOGETHER AND THE WHOLE WARD WENT CRAZY AND WAS SO EXCITED TO SEE HIM!!!!! So basically it was just amazing...... Also yesterday we had a baptism and Mame and Mother the 2 Muslim girls were baptized and that was super cool too! So yesterday was the sweetest Sunday ever in Bantama Ward! And I wasn't even there, I missed the whole entire thing because I was transfered again!!

Okay so here's where things get really crazy, pay attention. President had an emergency transfer with about 1/3 of our zone members in Kumasi. The two areas were burned and cleansed and all new missionaries came to those two areas in our zone. Elder Wright the current assistant was released and came to be the district leader in that area to assist and fixing everything and making the dead areas fruitful again. We, as I said Elder Wright was released.........That's when I received a phone call from President Sabey, only seconds after hearing about the transfer. This is all going on Thursday the day after getting back from Cape Coast. I'm sure that you will be as surprised as I was. I am the new assistant to President Sabey! Crazy right! And so I was sent back down to Cape Coast Friday morning with all of the elders that were transferred and now I am sitting in the mission office. It's been freakin insane! So I got here Friday night and that means that I wasn't at church Sunday in Bantama, and that I missed all that awesome stuff with Bro Morgan and the Muslim girls.

So that means that now I am companions with Elder Mackay again and will be I am sure until he goes home in 5 months. I have so much to learn. I was only a Zone Leader for 3 weeks and so I know very little about how things work and now I have to learn a lot more. It's a heck of a load, but man am I excited. So things are crazy right now. I hope you understand a little bit of this email, there’s a lot in there. Well I love you and I thank you for everything. Now just pray for me that I may figure things out really fast. Love you and take care.
Love
Elder Adams

ps. I was practicing driving stick yesterday, it was ridiculous!!!!
pss. Elder Mackay has only been an assistant for 3 weeks, yup we are lost!!!!!!!
pss. I am working on the photos and burning a cd. I should send one off in the next week or two. Patience is a heavenly virtue, and heaven is eternal, so make that patience eternal haha. It's coming but I can't make in promises now my schedule is booked 24/7

Zone Leader in Bantama & Learning to Sing!!!

2011-04-12T22:06:00.000-07:00

3-27-11

Fine Morning,
Well I am sorry that my emails haven't been all that good lately but really its just hard to sit down and remember everything, but things have really changed a lot so I will do my best to fill you in. So my Zone is the Bantama Zone and in our zone we have 30 missionaries. We have 6 sister missionaries, 22 Elders, and a couple, the Bennets. Our Zone covers the north west part of Kumasi, and then we have 10 elders in Sunyani were they are opening the new areas. The Bennet’s are in Sunyani so they help us out a lot and we don't have to go there as much only once or twice a transfer. Elder Speechley is in my Zone and Elder Brown is in the other zone on the opposite side of Kumasi near to Atonsu. Right now there are about 50 or so missionaries in Kumasi altogether. The Other zone is Dichemso Zone the one I was in before coming to Bantama. We also have a big city called Obuasi that is an hour or so away and we go there to conduct baptism interviews and help out a branch that they have down there. We are going down to Cape
Coast tomorrow and we will stay in the mission home and then we have Zone Council on Wednesday morning and then we will get back that night. So there is a lot of traveling involved and we are always running around to do something. (right now I am in the middle of trying to pay a man who fixed some missionaries fridge who wants 120 cedis, so I am on the phone at the same time) My zone is really sweet though. We have 6 of the sweetest sis missionaries in our zone. They are really good cooks too. But we
never have any problems with them. Sunyani is full of sweet missionaries and we never have any problems there, and the rest of the Elders down here are way cool so its really fun. You do have to learn to deal with situations that arise evey now and again, but nothing too drastic.

My apartment is sweet. It’s me and Elder Christensen and then 2 other missionaries Elder Hoffman and Elder Kundiona from Zimbabwe. It’s sweet. The apartment doesn't really compare to the one in Atonsu but I actually like it a lot more for some reason. Just small, has one living room and a kitchen with our 2 bedrooms and a small bathroom and that’s about it. Our area is sweet. We travel a lot to get from appointment to appointment. We baptized a woman last week named Dora and she was confirmed on Sunday. She is super powerful and now we are trying to work with her husband to get him to come to church but he is a little shy and his English is no good so he doesn't like to be around us much. There are two Muslim girls, Mame and Mother who we are preparing for baptism right now. There grandmother has practically disowned them because she is a hardcore Muslim, but they are still going strong and come to church. They closed there shop on Sundays and are obeying all of the commandments. It’s really sweet because they never even knew God before and now they are putting everything away for God. We also have another man who is prepared now for a long time to be baptized but we are working on getting him married before he can be baptized. I have never taught someone who is more in tune with the spirit. You would think that he has been a member for years. When we read the Book of Mormon he finds things and expounds on them, things that I haven't ever noticed before. He is a Rockstar. We are also working with 5 husband and wife families some that are part member and some that are both investigators. So we have great investigators right now and families. The families are the most exciting I love teaching families. We taught one guy yesterday that became a member a long time ago and now he is less active, but when he became a member he converted his whole family and they are now very active and powerful so we are trying to get them to help him to come back and be sealed in the temple. In our lesson yesterday the guy went off on the importance of the temple and families, but when we ask him to commit to come to church he just says "when I am prepared". Then something crazy happened that I have never experienced. The spirit told me to do something I would never do myself. It told me to make the guy feel terrible, to make him feel guilty, and ashamed. So I acted on that prompting and I gave it to him and I made him feel ashamed of himself and expressed how disappointed his family was in him and how he is selfish for not giving them the best they deserve. That is to live together forever in the temple. He was very humbled and nearly in tears, and then he said those words we could never get him to say. "I will be at church this Sunday". And he made a promise to the whole family that he would come. It was intense!!!!!! So I have faith that he will come back to church this Sunday. That’s what we will be fasting for this Sunday.

Thank you for the emails and updates. I hope everything is going well back home. Maybe you could fill me in a little bit more. I filled you in this week on where I am and what I am doing, now it’s your turn!! The church is true and I love you all so much. Can't wait to hear from you next week. Have a great week and God Bless.

Love Elder Adams

ps. About your other questions. I have no idea where I want to go to school or what exactly it is that I want to do. If you have any ideas or suggestions please let me know. Its something I don't think about
a lot but when I due I am clueless at what to do.
Things I would like.
1. Everlast speed jump rope. All I do is jump rope so I want a really good the ones I have suck.
2. Floss
3. Razors, shaving cream i have plenty but razors are almost gone just send a few.
4. Drink packets, and lots of them please!
5. Pens, black only
6. Ppictures, haha I will send you some don’t worry but I would like some too
7. A dietary book of some kind. I am going to go on a serious diet and workout and try and get back into shape but I don't know enough about what things to eat. Look for some kind of book that might help
with diet and food tips and maybe workout ideas.
8. This is really going to surprise you, but I am practicing my singing, so if you can find a book that might help with singing tips to that would be sweet . I want to learn so that I don’t embarrass myself to much.

Sweet, thanks mom and dad.
Love you So much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Short & Sweet email

2011-04-12T22:04:00.000-07:00

3-20-11

Well it is 10 pm and we just got to the cafe after having a crazy hectic day. We had to wake up at 5:30 so I am dog tired right now too. But I love it, there is a lot of opportunity as you said dad to teach and especially serve others as a ZL so I am not complaining because that is where all of my joy comes from. There is no greater feeling than to be engaged in helping others all day, everyday. And I have a feeling there will be plenty of opportunity for that. I have splits this week, leadership training, baptismal interviews to do and a whole lot more so we are super busy. The down side is that we don’t have a lot of time in our area to be with our investigators but our investigators are awesome so I am not too worried. Umm well I am going home and am tired and the time is far spent. I love you and pray for you everyday. Sorry it’s so short. I love you so much. Take care.

Love Elder Adams

March 14, 2011

2011-03-20T20:36:00.000-07:00

Adams Family,
Well its been a pretty crazy week. I told you about how Elder Mackay became the new Assistant to the President, but when I was emailing you last week I hadn't received my transfer call yet. I was 99% sure that I wouldn't be transferred this transfer because President always leaves missionaries in areas for a long period of time. Well I had only been in Atonsu for a little more than 1 transfer so I wasn’t worried about it, but President called me on Monday after emailing and gave me a new assignment. I was very surprised. He asked me to be a zone leader in the Bantama Zone, so all I did was go and replace Elder Mackay on the other side of Kumasi as zone leader. So pretty much I am just following Elder Mackay around my entire mission and serving in all of his areas. Not that it matters in any way, but I think I am the youngest zone leader in the mission, so I feel a little inexperienced kinda like a small boy haha, but it will be a really good experience. It's been kinda a rough area for a while from what I have heard. But Elder Mackay and now my companion Elder Christensen worked really hard here the last 2 transfers and now the place is just rocking and the work is super sweet. They have some super super powerful investigators and members as well. The ward was split in August and we are in Bantama 2^nd Ward and the Bishop here is the man. He is all about missionary work and the ward is giving lots of referrals right now and helping a lot. We went to the ward council on Sunday and they were talking about our investigators and how they can help and visit them. So sweet, the missionaries have a really good relationship with all of the ward leaders. We were even proselyting the other day and we ran into the Relief Society Pres, her 1st Councelor, and the Young Women’s 1st Counselor visiting our investigators. I was shocked, I haven't seen that kind of devotion my whole mission. So I am really excited to be serving here. I think I am going to enjoy the fruits of Elder Mackay’s labors. We do have to spend a lot of our time doing other missionary business and traveling a lot to help our zone members and the mission so it can be a little distracting at times, and we don't have as much time to be in our area but at the same time being busy will really help the time go fast and the work be sweet. So I am excited.

My companion as I said is Elder Christensen from Kaysville, Utah. He is really cool and a really hard working missionary. We a little different, being that he isn't a huge sports fan but at the same time we have a lot in common and he is a way sweet kid. Just wants to work hard and do things right so we will get along great. He is also from Elder Mackay's MTC group. I have had four of the sweetest companions in this mission, I don't know why but I have been super spoiled in that way. Now about Atonsu. I really miss that place a lot. Elder Smith is now training a Nigerian in that area and so he is still there. I was sad to leave because some of the sweetest investigators I have ever had on mission are from Atonsu. Anita, the woman in the wheelchair is just amazing and so determined to be a member. I actually think after talking to Elder Smith today that she could even be baptized before she leaves to go to the US for her race. I miss her so much, I think more than any investigator I have ever had. Then Brother Bright, Sister Ester and Sister Casandra are ready for baptism and will be baptized on the 26th of March, and everyone of them is just awesome and super powerful. Atonsu wasn't easy but because we worked are butts off we had great success. I am glad I will still be around to see them baptized though so that’s sweet. I grew a lot on my mission in just the last month serving there. It should become and branch this month. Oh and the Stake President and the Stake Patriarch are also in our ward here in Bantama, so I can still talk to him about Atonsu and get updates and encourage him to help them out which is sweet. I am going to really miss Atonsu I loved those members and investigators and also Elder Smith, but Istepped right back into an awesome area with an awesome companion and a new responsibility. The work will go forth.

Something crazy that I found out today from Elder Brown, who by the way is opening another new group near Atonsu and training at the same time (yup thats my son), so he is now in Kumasi. He told me that one of my recent converts in Moree died this past weekend!!!!!!!!!! His name was Kobina and he was a fisherman only about 20 years of age. I don't know how he died, but I would guess that it was at sea while they were fishing. I was really sad when I heard that, but he was fully active and going to church every week before he died so he is in a better place. What a blessing it is to know the plan of salvation, and to know that he is in paradise right now. It's a great feeling to know that because I chose to come on mission I have already helped one person go to heaven. One of the sweetest most wonderful feelings ever. Now I know with an even greater understanding that what we are doing is truly divine, and that we are literally giving people eternal life. I haven't even completed my mission, but I have helped save one soul, that alone makes every thing worth it. I can't even explain how it feels.

It's been another crazy week and the yet another new assignment. The Lords really helping me grow and learn in so many ways. I feel like I still have the sweetest moments ahead of me and I am not slowing down. Thank you guys for everything and I pray for you daily. There is nothing greater than missionary work. My scripture that I chose to put on my plaque is true. I have already brought in and saved one soul, how much greater shall my joy be if I now bring man? I feel so blessed to be engaged in such a wonderful cause. But it’s all because of the Lord and his blessings, not anything I have done. I love you, I know the church to be true and I thank you for the wonderful family you are. Take care and God bless you.
Love Elder Adams
ps. Read Elder Mackay’s blog to learn more.

3-7-11

2011-03-16T22:05:00.000-07:00

Family,

Sorry I couldn’t email last week we went to the cafe in our area and the net was down and we didn’t have time to go anywhere else. So that’s just Africa for ya so sorry live with it, because I do everyday haha. Well the last two weeks were pretty sweet. We went golfing last p day and it was so epic. Man its not easy hitting the golf ball over a 600 foot giant tree right in the middle of the fairway haha, but really the course wasn't all that bad. And we had a caddy and everything so it was legit, and even Nike clubs. Okay well today I found out that Elder Mackay is the new assistant so that is pretty sweet. That guy is such a stud, love that boy so much. So that’s really really cool. Umm church the past few weeks has been okay. Actually last week was really good and we had about 40 members, but this week was a downer and we had jut over 25. Man a don’t know what else we can do it is so frustrating. We go and teach all these members and visit less actives but we just can’t get them to come to church. They all miss and want to go back to their old wards if they even go to church. So things are going a little slow on the progress of the group. And to make matters worse our group leader is moving this month so we will be getting a new one and starting over again. Ugh it’s getting to me, but we are still doing all we can with the group. On the other hand we have some super solid investigators and we are really loving teaching them. Bright once again gave the most powerful testimony in church on Sunday and said that he will never leave this church, and he isn’t even baptized yet. I was a little sad and down when on Sunday when we were having class the teacher didn’t even know Bright’s name and he has been coming for 8 weeks now. I don’t know what to do, but the members just don’t seem to really care. We have two other investigators who have been to church every week and the 3 of them will be baptized on the 26.

We have a new investigator and one of my favorites I have ever taught. She is in a wheelchair, but she is not complaining she is taking full advantage of it. She wheels herself a mile to church every week and let me tell you there aren’t sidewalks. But she is a wheelchair racer and the stadium is here in Ghana and she travels the world doing Olympic like competitions and stuff. She showed us pictures of her in the white house and eating pizza and hamburgers and all kinds of stuff in America. She lives in a little house the size of my room and she has 2 girls and her husband is dead, but she is making the best of her life. She truly loves and embraces the gospel to in her life. She already said that are church is different and that she loves it. Crazy thing is that she is traveling to Atlanta, Georgia for a competition at the end of this month and will be there for 4 weeks. How crazy is that? Jeff should totally find her and teach her for me so that when she gets back I can baptize her. Only problem is I doubt Jeff can speak twi because she doesn’t speak English. But we will give her a baptism date before she leaves and continue when she returns. Small world. Oh, and the government pays for her to travel the world for these competitions.

Things are still going really well Elder Smith is a great guy and we are loving life right now in our new area. It’s not easy but we are really trying to get things going still. I could sure use some advice for teaching and bringing back less active members. Whatever I am doing doesn’t seem to be working all that well right now haha, but really some advice might help.

Still no packages. Umm my zone is Dichemso zone and Elder Mackays old one was Bantama and they are the only 2 in Kumasi. That’s crazy about Brother Weed, man small world. (Garrett’s seminary teacher has been called as the mission president to a new mission in Benin and Togo) Well I don’t know what else to tell you right now I am really in a hurry and I don’t have much time to explain or expand on anything else. Sorry I will try and make my emails more meaningful next week. I love you and I am so grateful for such a wonderful loving family, I thank my heavenly father everyday and pray in your behalf. Take care and keep doing the Lords work, there is no greater work we could be doing. I love you!!!!!!!!!!!

Elder Adams

February 20. 2011

2011-03-03T21:49:00.000-08:00

Feb, 20, 2011

Fam,

I am glad to hear that Miles played a really good game. As long as the Adams weren't the ones who blew it, it keeps the name in good standing. But that does suck they lost. It would have been sweet to go to State in basketball. The Weeds, my freshman seminary teacher right? That is way cool he is going to be the new Mission President over Benin and Togo. Give me their address and I will write them. We got a new pump for our apartment. The crime might be a little higher just because there is more money around, but it is still way safer than America.

Well, the exciting part of this week for me at least was Zone conference. It was a real sweet one. We talked a lot about discipline and about what we must do as a mission to reach our potential. We have three groups of missionaries that came into the mission in August, October, and November of 2009. Within those 3 groups there are about 50 or 60 plus missionaries, almost half of our mission. Elder Mackay is one of them. President said that that almost never happens, and for the longest time we were one of the youngest missions in the world. But now we are probably the oldest mission in the world and he taught us that because of that we should be the most powerful mission in the world. Pretty crazy uh? We have a lot of experience in our mission right now. When all of those guys leave then I will be one of the oldest in the whole mission and we will probably get a lot more missionaries at that time. Now President Sabey goes home in June, which really sucks because I love that man, but we received our new and final mission goal before he leaves. In his time being here we have completed all 8 of the mission goals that have been set, never failing. The Lord has really been good to our mission. But things have been taken to a whole other level with this new goal and we only have 4 months to do it!!!! All of the goals have been progressing towards the temple, or to the celestial kingdom. We started with service, and then baptisms, then baptizing a husband and wife family, then getting a recent convert to the temple to do baptisms for the dead, and we will finish that one the 28th of this month. And so guess what our next goal is?? Yup to get a family sealed in the temple and we have 4 months!!! That seems impossible. Actually, the first thing that Sister Sabey said when President told herewas, "Mel that is impossible." So right now President is really taking us to the highest level, and stressing exact obedience in every single way so that we will have the Lord’s help, because there is no way we will ever accomplish this goal without it.

So overall it was just a really really sweet conference. Then we had a sweet instruction about grace and works, and how Christ is our advocate pleading our case, and how the works are what make us become like God, and we got into a really serious discussion. Overall just a sweet sweet conference. I feel refreshed and ready to work even harder. Lately I have been a little flustered and frustrated with how things are going with our group and the area. Things just don't seem to be going like I had imagined, and the members aren't all that serious in doing what is necessary. We only have about 20 active members right now that are consistent. And they are all single and working, so they have no time to really do any missionary work and help the group to grow. We have only gotten 2 serious referrals since coming. It's almost like we are at a standstill except for the few investigators that we are preparing for baptism that we have contacted. I am really praying and seeking for a understanding of what we can do. I am just a little unsure of what we can change to help the group the most. Pray for us, we need it. I do know that everything works in the Lords time though and that if we would just continue working hard he will have to bless us. I knew it wouldn't be an easy task and I am ready to do whatever is necessary. Don't think at all that I am doubting or anything; I know things will come around, I just want you to get a little feel of where we are at right now. I know you are curious. Also pray that we can find a family to get sealed with the few people we have to choose from to prepare. Haha we really do have a lot of work to do I tell you what!!! But I am getting to the point in my mission where the harder the task, the my I love it because in the end it will be totally worth every effort.

We have one golden investigator right now who just is so powerful and he will be baptized very soon. The rest of our progressing investigators have major chastity issues still and things are going really slow, but they are improving. They will be very special baptisms though when the time comes because of all we went through together, but the number of baptisms will be less. Not that that matters though. Things are a lot different than my first area where we were dunking people every couple of weeks. This place is pretty dry, but I know we will change that. Man, even Fallon 5th is baptizing like it’s Africa. I think I could have counted the number of baptisms on my hands in our ward before I came on mission. You guys are doing awesome. Well, we are being stretched and the Lord is really teaching us we gotta work harder. I have loved my mission so much up to this point, and I know that I will only learn more. I don't think a mission has impacted anyone the way it has me. Thinking about who I was before mission, and who I am now, and where I want to go now compared to where I wanted to go before my mission, I am no way the same. Thank you, thank you for getting me on a mission. It's the greatest blessing my life. But I have so much more to do and improve upon. I know that Jesus Christ truly suffered 100% of our individual sins, and that if we come unto him he can and will heal us. This is his church. The gospel is true, and it is more visible to us as we live it. I love you and pray for you everyday. I hope everything is going great. Take care.

Much Love
Elder Adams

February 13, 2011

2011-03-03T21:29:00.000-08:00

Family,

Sorry about the last week we had no time because we had so much stuff to do. Well, our water pump was stolen from our house and we had no water for the whole last week, we had to fetch it, which really sucks. I only took two showers last week because I hate fetching the water. After about 3 days I decide on the 4th day that I had better take a shower and when I did I learned a new lesson. If you don't shower daily your skin sheds, and my whole body was pealing because I hadn't showered in so long ha. Guess that's why it’s supposed to be a daily thing. So things are a little sketchy around our area right now. We had our water pump stolen and we know that there are people spying on us and watching us pretty well because they knew the exact time that we would be out of the house to come and steal the pump. And then this week we almost got the crap beat out of us by a 240 pound, in shape, ripped out of his mind guy who is the husband to one of our investigators. SCARY! I will tell you more about that.

1^st in Kumasi they have all of the sweet Kente scripture bags, temple bags, and all kinds of other sweet stuff that they can make out of Kente. Let me know what things you might want. 2nd I am on a new diet where all I eat for dinner is salad with a bunch of vegetables and I am actually losing a good amount of weight so it's sweet. But they don’t really have good salad dressings here so it would be sweet if you could send me like a whole bunch of ranch packets, and then I could make the dressing here or something like that. I will probably eat that the majority of my mission. All these other foods are making to fat haha. And I don't really want candy, it makes me feel so sick afterward. So legit food stuff I would prefer. 3rd I want to go golfing in Africa just so that I can say I did, and we found a pretty legit golf course that we can go to for about 35 American dollars. So just make sure that I have money in my account for that as well. I took out a bunch of money today because I broke Elder Smiths blender the other day and so I had to buy him another one and also to pay for a temple bag and scripture bag that I bought to try out and see how nice they are. Okay so that’s about all on that side of things.

How’s the grandparents, the family, and everyone doing? Grandma Hendrix Happy Birthday! 83 YEARS YOUNG AND GOING STRONG! Love you. I got an email from Jeff. haha he is so green man it makes me remember what I was like when I first came. It's cool to see though, so good. I probably need a little bit more of that greeny spirit in me now. As for the pictures and stuff well I haven't taken many pictures at all. It’s just everything is normal and I don't even know what to take a picture of anymore. I will try and take a lot more this transfer.

Here's the last week. Okay let me start off with the almost being killed story. One of our investigators is living with a guy, not married, and he is never around so she kind of lives alone but still it is his house and he
comes once a month or so. And he is not serious, doesn't believe in God and a very wicked man. She wants to be baptized and said that her boyfriend is not a good person, but that she had no money to really take care of herself. We told her that if she wants to be baptized they would have to get married, she would have to move out, or move back to her hometown and be baptized there. We should have never given that advice. Big mistake. The guy came home, thought we were stealing his wife from him because she wanted to leave him, and then he got really mad. As we were passing the house going to another appointment she came running out screaming, telling us he thought we were her boyfriends and that she had just got beat by him, and then he came out after her and was heading right for us, and let me tell you his face said that he wanted to kill us then and there. We backed away a little and he came right at us. He even had his shirt off like it was a movie, and he was huge!!!!!!!!! NFL linebacker status. We stood there and just shook praying, but also peeing down both legs. He started yelling at us and pointing and told us that we better leave or he would kill us. But in the end he never did anything, just told us we had to leave. And we did. It was one of the scariest things ever. I thought we were going to get beat up hardcore. But in the end we talked to him on the phone and kinda calmed him down and explained the whole situation, and he understood when all was said and done. But it is still a huge mess and now it is going to be difficult to baptize this woman, one of our best investigators. But we do have two others who have baptism dates for the 5^th of March and the one is super powerful and bore his testimony last Sunday and has been every week to church except the first Sunday. So things are going well, but we still have a lot to do and it’s a lot harder work. But I do feel like it is real missionary work where you have to contact and start from scratch. So it’s got its ups and downs, but we are loving it. It was a very eventful past two weeks and I have to leave out a lot of things that I wanted to tell you but I am out of time so sorry maybe I will tell you the rest next week if I remember. I didn’t do anything on my year mark, just another day. We had no water so we had to take care of that stuff and there just wasn't any time really. Well I love you guys so much. The work is hard, but he never said it would be easy, he only said that it would be worth it. And it sure is worth it. The church is true, I know it is and this work is divine. Love you all

Elder Adams

January 24,2011

2011-01-24T20:58:00.000-08:00

The Adams Family,
Well it's been another good week. I always get really excited over Sundays and tend to not write much about what happened during the week, and just focus on church, and for the most part that will be the bulk of this weeks email too. It was a crazy Sunday. But I will try and include some of the other interesting things that happened. So Tuesday we left the apartment about 45 min before district meeting started, and we ended up being about 30 min late still. We are still trying to figure out the traveling thing in this area. It is really annoying because there is no station right next to our apartment, and we both are kind of clueless. We spend lots of time traveling. But it's always an adventure, because about 50% of the time we end up in a place we weren't trying to go haha. But anyway, on the way to district meeting the tire on our trotro literally was falling off as we were driving. So we had to abandon ship and walk the rest of the way. Don't really know why I just told you that, so moving on.

Okay so jumping all the way to Saturday. We went to meet this less-active woman that we had been trying to fix an appointment with for about 2 weeks. We had actually never met her, or so we thought. When we went there for the 4th time we learned the lady we had been trying to find was the same lady that had told us she wasn't around the 4 previous times. She made up a name and everything, but one of the people selling next to her told us her real name and so we found the Sister G. we were looking for. We were able to talk to her for a while and learned that she was brought into the church by one of our members, but that something bad had happened between them and she won't go back. So Sunday comes around and Elder Smith was talking to the Lady that had brought Sister G. to church, she is Sister R. Elder Smith was trying to get her to tell him what had happened between them, and she wouldn't really say anything. Then she just went off about how G. tried to kill her husband, and specifically about how she tried to cut of his penis in the process, and just kept on saying G. that she was an evil evil woman. Then Elder Smith couldn’t help but start laughing super hard and that was the end of the conversation. So I am not sure if we will ever try and go back to G. we are afraid she might try and take away our preisthood. She is dangerous!! Just one of the funny situations we encountered this week. We also came across a crazy man as they call him here, who kept on running up to us and screaming at us "You don’t even know Santa Claus, and you call yourselves Americans". And also that we needed to leave his country before he makes us leave and all kinds of crazy things. So in short it was an exciting week full of laughs and funny stories.

Sunday church went along perfectly normal. It went good and we had about the same number of members as the last week in attendance and maybe even a few more. Not to mention we also had 8 investigators this week which was awesome. Pretty much every single one of our progressing investigators came to church. It was so cool. On the teaching side of things we have some very good investigators and we are really enjoying our time here right now. It's a lot of fun and our efforts are really paying off. This coming transfer is going to be really sweet and we are hoping for about 5 baptisms or more if everything works out well. I feel that the Lord has really prepared the hearts of many of the people in this area and I am excited to see what happens. I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my mission here. Moree was the complete opposite, so then I would get the best of both worlds for half of my mission. So there's the week. Next week I will try and fill you in a little more about our specific investigators and how the lessons are going with them. I haven't been telling you too much about the teaching side of things.

Miles happy birthday kid!! You are getting closer and closer to your mission. Warning!!! Don't be the cool kid who thinks he is to cool to prepare for a mission the right way. You better begin now it comes faster than you think and you will be grateful you did. Hope you have a good birthday and wish you the best. Love you bro!

Well I am learning so so so much right now. Probably more in the last month than I have my whole mission. It's a lot of work, but the time is flying as we stay very busy. It's an experience of a lifetime and the Lord is really stretching me in many directions. I love you and wish you all the best this coming week. The church is so true; I know it is, it is becoming clearer to me everyday. I pray the Lord's choicest blessings to be upon you. Much love. Take Care
Love
Elder Adams

ps. I got the package with stuff from Alex and Rita today. Tell them thanks.

Mon, January 17, 2011

2011-01-20T20:53:00.000-08:00

The Adams Family,Well another week down here in Atonsu and everything seems to be going well, pretty similar to last week. How are things there? Good I presume. Well this week we had a lot more time on our hands and were able to pretty much have a normal week. Tuesday we saw the Kiffer’s (missionary couple from Alaska) for the last time. I'm really going to miss them they were really really helpful to us. Anytime we needed something like more chairs or sacrament clothes, all we had to do was call them and in no time they would bring it to us. I hope we got everything that we need, because now we have to go and do it ourselves. The entire rest of the week all we did was contact and try and build a teaching pool so that we can get a few progressing investigators and have a baptism here in the near future. The days were long. We contacted and taught a few lessons in between each day. Our days are running from about 9:30 in the morning to about 7:00 or7:30 in the evening, and we never stop for lunch we just pick something up on the street while we are out working. It makes the days go by faster if we just stay engaged the entire time. I haven't ever gone home for lunch my entire mission and I don't plan on ever doing it. We’re more effective that way. So we get between 9 and 10 hours in each day. I will say that contacting is not the way to go. It is member referrals. We have contacted dozens of people this week and maybe only a handful we are still teaching. It's not easy, so we are going to kind of redirect our focus for the next few weeks towards the members and gain some trust by serving them and see if that brings some more referrals. Right now we are working with about 4 referrals or so and 2 or looking pretty good. Umm we were able to meet a less active family this week that was actually a referral from sister Anab. They are a whole family and they were all baptized, but now attend a different church. The fell less active because the Bishop who brought them into the church was their landlord, and then they say he kicked them out of the house. Probably because he wasn’t paying. So of course they did what all other Ghanaians do they go to other churches for money, and then join whatever church will give them money. And so now it's a money battle. Man these ones are tough battles to fight, because if they left for the money they didn't have a very strong testimony in the first place. So we'll see what happens there.

Saturday we had a sweet experience, but it totally has nothing to do with missionary life. We were out contacting and we walked through a guy’s farm and then crossed over a river by jumping rocks. One of the big boulders had a bunch of crazy marks on it that were about two feet long and one foot wide. They looked like giant footprints from some crazy dinosaur or something. They farmer told us that they all believe that is what it is, some really old fossil of a dinosaur foot. They look pretty legit but I am not sure. So we will send you the picture soon and you can decide for yourself if it could be.

Elder Smith and I also came up with a new goal to baptize a pastor of another church. Then maybe he can convert his followers. We call it the Abinadi goal. Random. Okay, now to Sunday. Sunday was good, a little down on numbers from the first week, but we had lots of visitors the first week. So I conducted this week and it was a little stressful just because the people that we assigned to speak in church didn't all show up on time. We had a youth speaker, Sis Gifty Anab who gave a wonderful 5 min talk on repentance. She is a solid beehive. Then we had a return missionary talk and he talked for about 30 min. Elder Smith was about to give the backup talk when the lady we assigned to speak walked in very late. So I announced that she would be our concluding speaker and she kinda looked at me with a "what?" look on her face acting like she wasn't ready. But After 10 sec. of staring at each other she pulled out her talk and gave a good talk on charity and love. She really thought she was going to get out of speaking haha, but she did very well. So sacrament meeting started on time and ended on time and everything went along very good with that being the only small hiccup this week. I never actually realized the things that you can see and observe while sitting up on the stand. It amazed me! You’ve got 40 year olds picking their noses like there is money inside it, laying back with their eyes closed like they are listening but really sleeping, talking about the week with the person next to them, playing with their phones, and all kinds of stuff. Haha it was really funny to see just how much people pay attention. I feel for you all serving in the Bishopric haha. Anyway we had about 15 members there for sacrament and about 25 for the whole of church, and 7 investigators, 4 of which we contacted or are teaching. Random people show up every week which is cool. So the rest of church went on smoothly. Our priesthood teacher didn't show so we had to fill in for that one but it went okay. I actually ended up teaching young women’s. Don't ask me how but there were 3 of them and they didn't want to go to relief society, and nobody wanted to teach the class, so I did what I could. It was weird, ya know just being a male haha and talking about young women. Anyway it was funny and we just went through their personal progress. Another successful Sunday, but just not quite as exciting as last week. And still no group leader so we are still in charge.

Well my companion is awesome. He is from Morgan, Utah and he knows what it means to work hard so we are enjoying and just doing work. He played football in high school and was really good so we have quite a bit in common. It makes things a lot of fun. So that is cool. Oh yeah I just wanted to add something small to end. I sat in on primary to see how it went at church and Sister Dina was teaching. Holy crap can that woman teach! She is so good with kids it is crazy. I have never in my whole life seen someone teach with such power and enthusiasm. It’s like taking Elder Holland and having him teach primary. She gets the kids to listen, to participate, and everything,. It was awesome to see. The members here really get the gospel and understand it. It is so true that the church is the same all over the world, and just seeing that passion that she had was a powerful testimony builder. Her testimony was so strong like a fire you could warm your hands over.

Great week, love you all so much and can't wait to tell you about what crazy things happen this week. Take care and know that I love you.Love Elder Adams

Answers to moms questions.....
1. How do you get around the area? We walk a lot, but our area is big so almost everyday we have to take a trotro to some farther away places in our area. 2. Do you have an oven/microwave? No we don't have anything different such as an oven. It's all the same stuff. We have a propane stove and that's it. 3. Do you have a variety of foods? Food variety is about the same. You can get cheese and stuff, but only if you spend half your monthly sub on one block of cheese. That kind of stuff is expensive, so I just eat pretty much the same things and buy the same things. And fufu is the staple food of Ghana, it’s everywhere. No changes really there. 4. Are things less or more expensive? The basics might be more expensive, but for the most part if you’re not buying the American things and stick to the Ghanaian food it’s about the same. 5. How many missionaries are in the Kumasi area? There about 30 or 35 I think but I am not really sure in 2 Zones. Hope that helps if you have anymore let me know. Love your favorite son Elder Adams

1-10-11

2011-01-10T21:38:00.000-08:00

How are you?
Well here we go I will go ahead and just give you the low down on the whole week and fill you in. So mostly we prepared the entire week for Sunday and just tried to do all of the little things so that it would be a successful first Sunday, one that would make all of the members here want to come back the following week. The plan from the start was that we would only have a 2 hour church service because the first week we didn't want to do too much and make it a disaster. But…. we changed that. We decided that we had met with enough members in the area that had promised to come to church and we were sure that more of them would come that we hadn't ever met. We fasted and we decided that would be the best thing to do. So from there we met with some of the members that we knew were solid and trustworthy, and we began giving assignments on Tuesday for Primary, Sunday School, Relief Society, Priesthood, and all that stuff. One woman in the group named Sis Dina is amazing. She is one of those people that you can call on at anytime for anything and she will do it better than you expected. She rocks. We had her teach Primary. A man who lives across the street named Bro. Yeboah is also a strong member who was baptized about 3 years ago. He is the one with the Mercedes that drives us around sometimes. He taught Priesthood. Then there is a return missionary who just came home about 6 months ago and he is just a stud so we had him teach Sunday School. His name is Bro. Fred. Then there is a woman named Sis Anab. At first we thought that she didn't like us that much for some reason, but we asked her to teach Relief Society and she did, and she did it well. Tonight we are going to her house for FHE so it looks like she does like us after all. The speakers for sacrament meeting were me, the 2nd counselor in the Stake Pres, and then another return missionary. Oh, and Elder Smith conducted the meeting. And we also were the teachers for the gospel principles class. So that was all of the assignments for the week. We provided them the materials that were available and then wished for the best. So that was the preparation.

With the rest of our proselyting efforts this week we contacted, taught the new investigators that we have, and continued to meet with members and less-actives. It was a really really good week in that aspect of the work. We have 12 new investigators and are teaching many that are already progressing well. It is so exciting to see how fast the work is going already. Funny story. Wednesday, Prosper, our mission apartment preparation specialist, came over and brought us our new closet (dresser), and then decided that he was going to refinish it in our room while we were having our companion study. We were listening to the conference cds and by the end of one of the talks Elder Smith was pretty much gone, and when I say gone I mean high. He was in a whole different world and he couldn't stop laughing for a while. It was so funny, and then for the next few hours he felt pretty sick. It added a little bit of excitement and entertainment to the week. Friday we had interviews with President Sabey and we talked about our responsibilities with our new assignment and all that. He said that what we are doing could actually be the first time it has ever been done in the world. I doubt that, but he had never heard of it before. It isn't often that the missionaries work directly with the stake like this. The group is the stakes responsibility, but we are somehow managing it. It's cool, but crazy. Saturday we cleaned the chapel with a few of the members for about 4 hours and got everything looking perfect for Sunday before we went out proselyting.

Sunday morning came around and I am not going to lie, I was nervous. Mostly just because the success of the day was sitting on our shoulders, and at that point all we could do was pray. 10 min to 9 there was only about 9 members at church and then us, the Kiffer’s, and the assistants. We started on time and everything went smoothly. By the time sacrament finished there were about 20 members there. The only hiccup in the day came when I started speaking. It turned out that the guy we asked to speak in church didn’t show. So things were adjusted a bit and the only two speakers for sacrament meeting were me and the 2nd counselor from the stake. But it went very well and you never would have been able to tell that there was a problem. Now the crazy part. We had 2 people that we contacted during this week come to church!!!! And in all we had 5 investigators at church on Sunday. That might be the best part of the whole week, I was so stoked. We had about 10 people in our investigator class, some members, and it just went awesome. Everybody that we gave an assignment did awesome, and by the end of church we had a total of 48 members there and that was not counting us, the assistants, or the Kiffers!!!!!! So awesome. The members here are powerful and really there isn't much we needed to do, they will do it all on there own. Now the idea to do this whole thing came from Pres. Sabey, and the Stake President wasn't 100 percent sold on it, but they thought it would be okay to try. The entire Stake Presidency came into Priesthood with about 30 min left and we had one of the best lessons.( it was in English :) ) So today the Kiffer’s told us that the Stake loved what had happened and were completely sold on the whole thing now after Sunday. The Lord really makes things move when it is time, and that is what he is doing here. I have seen the hand of the Lord in this work more this week, than I think I have recognized my whole mission. Now we can focus mostly on our missionary efforts and should have a group little sometime within the next month. We poured out our hearts Sunday night to our Heavenly Father for all the blessings he brought us this week. I am gunna love it here in Atonsu.

About Kumasi. We got lost today and we showed up 1 hour late for the activity. This place is big hahaha. Well I am tired of typing so I hope that is good for the week, I love
you and hope that all is well. The church is true and this week was awesome.

Love Elder Adams

January 3, 2011

2011-01-03T22:04:00.000-08:00

Adams Family,
Well it is 8:30pm here and its been a very busy week with lots to do. So Tuesday afternoon we jumped on a bus coming up here to Kumasi, not really knowing what we were getting into. Driving into Kumasi was crazy. Big, big houses everywhere and all kinds of stuff. Far different than Cape Coast. The couple missionaries the Keifers picked us up and drove us straight to our new area and new apartment. Just driving there was crazy. This city is huge and very hectic, just stuff going on everywhere. We live quite a ways out of town and its in a very rich area called Atonsu. When we got to our apartment it was such a weird feeling because it was so big. The chapel and apartment are really nice. The chapel has a small area for sacrament meeting where you can fit about 50 people or so, then there are 4 classrooms about the size of my old room (in America) and 2 bathrooms. It is all very nice. Then there is one room for the Branch President’s office when we get to the point where it is time to call one. It has a small waiting area outside with a couch and a nice overhang. Then the whole apartment and compound is gated with big walls and a good amount of free space inside the compound. To get into our apartment you go through another door separate from the chapel where we have a good sized room, a big, big kitchen, a bathroom and garage area. Our apartment side isn't huge but it's really nice and there are only two of us. I don't know how to explain it other than saying it is just nice, neat, clean, and new. I do miss my green walls a little bit though ha ha.

So that's the building side of things. For the whole of this week we mostly met with members that live within our area and will be transferring from the Asokwa and UST wards into our group in Atonsu. When we showed up the first day nobody told us what we were to do, they just left it up to us to figure it out. And really we still don't know a whole lot. So Wednesday morning our first day in the area we just left the apartment and walked. We walked for about 3 hours seeing the area and that kind of thing. The very first thing I said we needed to do was find a member, because then that person can show us other members and we can go from there. So for the whole of Wednesday we were on search for a member. For several hours of no luck, we began to doubt a little bit that we were not going to ever find a member that lived in this area. For some reason we walked back the way that we had come from early that morning and amazingly a women from a balcony yelled "Elders of Israel!" Immediately I knew we had found a member. She turned out to be the most powerful woman and just from meeting her we have come to learn of 20 - 30 members in the area and where many of their houses are. I feel we are going to have a good number of people at church this Sunday. So this week we met many members in our area and are getting to know them pretty well. Three live very close to us and one man with a Mercedes drives us around a lot, haha. So awesome!! I don't even feel like I am in Ghana sometimes. We have about 7 Melchizedek Priesthood holders we know are strong and active, and a good number of women that have been Relief Society Presidents or something like that. The leadership is there. I think within 3 months it will be a branch. I bet it will be that fast. We didn't have church this Sunday, we just went to another ward the UST ward.

Oh yeah I almost forgot my new companion is Elder Smith from Morgan, Utah. He is pretty cool guy, and we get along really well. He's a pretty good athlete and into sports, especially American football and wanted to play in college. He still has the greenie spirit haha pretty bad. It's pretty funny but he is really hard working and I think we will get along good. We just got finished cleaning, mopping, and doing that kind of thing at the chapel. Boy, am I tired, more tired than I have ever been on mission. We have got a lot to do and my brain hurts a little to be honest haha, but I am loving it. This is going to be a really sweet experience to see how it all goes. We did get a little time to proselyte and contact and it was so different. You have to knock on the gates. You go in and sit in a nice house on nice couches, and they offer you malt and all kinds of amazing drinks. And they are very educated and many are in the oil business or something like that. Ehh it is crazy oooo. Oh and Twi is way different to hear and speak than Fante at first. It's been a big, big change, but I am ready for it and we will see what happens. It's gunna be good, solid, hard, working fun!! This week I found myself on my knees a lot more and relying on the Lord a lot more. I felt at first that this was just way too much for me to handle, but now I am beginning to see that we don't have to do any thing amazing, just do your best and the Lord will do the rest. I think this is going to help me a lot more spiritually also. I know this work is divine and I am grateful to be engaged in it. The church is true and I am more grateful everyday to be a member of it. I love you guys and I hope all is well. Take care and may the Lord's choicest blessings be upon you all.

Love Elder Adams

ps. I could have written a 100 pages about this week, but I am tired of typing haha.

Transfered to Kumasi

2010-12-30T20:34:00.000-08:00

The Adams Family,
It was nice to hear from you all on Saturday and I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas. I know I did. Well I didn't think I would have anything to tell you today, because the phone call pretty much covered the majority of the week, but this morning I got a phone call from President Sabey. He started by asking how my Christmas was, and asked a few other questions regarding what we did and how are family meal went. I thought at first that he was calling and asking questions because we did something we weren't supposed to do on Christmas, and I just kept thinking what did I do what did I do, because I knew we didn't do anything wrong. Then he said he was glad we had a good Christmas, and he went on to give me a new assignment. Usually transfers are always done every six weeks, but because of Christmas he never transferred me and Elder Brown because he wanted us to be in our area so that we could really enjoy our Christmas together and have a good meal with a family we knew very well. What a nice guy President is. But he was planning to transfer us this week. So anyway, he gave me my new assignment.

I am leaving Moree tomorrow morning and I am headed to Kumasi to open up a new area there. He said the apartment there is finally ready. It is the very first area and apartment in Kumasi were they are starting the new expansion program. They have some of the big new apartments open in Sunnyani already, but none in Kumasi. This one is number one. So I will be going to open up a new area where no missionaries have been stationed, we will be holding sacrament meeting every week in our apartment, and when we get there tomorrow we don't know a single person and we are starting from scratch. Talk about exciting!! I know it won't be easy because we are going to be contacting 24/7 and will have a lot to do in finding people before Sunday for church. My companion is Elder Smith from the U.S., but I have never met him and know nothing about him. It's going to be only us in the apartment, which will be weird because I have never been in an apartment alone, but it will be fun. He is about 3 1/2 months out on mission or something I think, so I will somehow be the Senior Companion I guess. Elder Brown took my place and is now the District Leader and his new companion is from Kenya.

Well anyway, I am way excited, but I have a lot to do today I got to wash, pack, and try and see as many people as possible this evening in Moree before I leave in the morning. It's gunna be crazy! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Love Elder Adams

Dec. 20, 2010

2010-12-30T20:16:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas,
I don't know about you, but I can't even tell it's Christmas time ha. 95 degrees and getting hotter doesn't really feel like Christmas, but it's still sweet. I got a feeling it's gunna be an awesome Christmas. Well about last week and transfers....... umm not much to tell. Nothing changed I am still staying in good ole Moree for another 6 weeks and Elder Brown is still my companion and I am still the district leader. Crazy uh? In my first year on mission I will have had only one area and 2 companions!!! I doubt that happens..... ever. But I'll take it how it is and just keep doing my best. It's really kind of sweet just to see how much people have changed and how the ward has changed over the past year. SO staying has been a real blessing in many ways. I wouldn't want to do it any other way. And who knows, I could stay even longer than a year. One thing that did change was our district. President has started moving missionaries around for the new expansion we are working on and now there are 8 missionaries in my district and 4 areas including mine, so I get to visit some other areas and see a little more of Ghana. But I am definitely a lot more busy having to do lots of interviews and planning district meetings and just stuff like that. It really makes time go by so fast.

This week was ridiculous. So Fast! Well as for this week it was good. We did some farming for a member in Yamoransa named Jobi and he is the coolest Ghanaian ever. He speaks English in the funniest way and has the craziest way of pronouncing words. He's funny. But we went to his small farm this week and helped him plant some lettuce. We planted about 900 or so heads of lettuce and weeded some. Gardening or farming is actually pretty fun when you get to see how well the things you plant grow. Kinda enjoyed it a little bit, plus service is always the best part of missionary work. Right now we have 12 investigators with a baptismal date, we are teaching 1 husband and wife family, a really powerful and intelligent guy named Seth about 28, and then a bunch of young men and a girl between the ages of 24 and 16. Things are going pretty well. You know you have a lot of people to teach when you can fill every hour of the day for Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday and part of Friday before you week even begins. That's what happened this week. So sweet! Maybe I will tell you small about Seth. He is a guy that we just contacted late one evening while we were out tracting on our way home. I didn't think that much would come from it because contacts are not usually very successful here. But over the past few weeks he has been progressing really well. He never lies to us and always keeps his promises. He accepted a baptismal date and everything last week. It seemed like things were going to good to be true. So we gave him a bigger challenge to come to church this week. He said he would. On Sunday we were going to pick him, but he said he would come by himself so we waited for him at church. Church started and he wasn't there. But right when I was about to lose hope here came Seth walking toward the chapel. He seemed really nervous. I sat with him at church and he was so shy and nervous that everyone was watching him, but by the end of church he actually had a lot of friends in the church and even knew many of our recent-converts including Andrew Aikins. It was an awesome Sunday just because he came. But we'll see what happens, he says he is traveling soon, so we might have to try and rush things a little. Albert Essoun our recent-convert who has gone less-active came to church also. He hadn't been 6 months straight. It was a good Sunday.

Well nothing much else I can think of to tell y’all this week. We did just play some b ball against a bunch of wanna be ballers (who were pretty dang good actually) and I still can play alright. Man I miss basketball, all this soccer is getting to me ha-ha. As for the phone call I will call the number at exactly 9 in the evening here, so I will let you figure out what time for you. If you set it up a few minutes before 9 then when I call we can get right into it. Umm I got one package today with the Jesus sticker so I will have that one for Christmas. Got one from grandpa and grandma today too. Its gunna be a sweet sweet week, we have lots of awesome Christmas activities scheduled and it should be a lot of fun. Love you all and wish you a Merry Merry Christmas. Talk to you Saturday.

Love Elder Adams

Christmas Letter

2010-12-24T20:49:00.000-08:00

Friends and Family,

It's a privilege this Christmas season to be able to share with all of you a few words. My prayer is that it will encourage and lift each of you. Now, Christmas has always been my favorite time of the year. It's the best time of year because everyone is always so much happier. Everyone is in the giving spirit. Everyone puts on a nice big smile. Families gather together for the holiday season. The best Christmas music is played all around town and on the radio. Gifts are given. Gifts are received. And there is plenty of food to go around. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. However, with all of the excitement and festivities that the holiday season brings, the true meaning of Christmas is often overlooked or forgotten, and is lost amongst the giving and receiving of presents.

My Christmas message I would like to share with all of you is simply this. Do not miss the real meaning of Christmas, but make our Savior Jesus Christ the center and focus of all we do this holiday season. Bring to life the birth, mission, and life of our Lord. That is what Christmas is all about. Growing up our family would watch the video “Luke II” together every Christmas Eve, and share with each other our testimonies following the film. I will never forget the power and influence that my parents testimonies had on me and my life on those nights before Christmas. My greatest memories aren't the gifts I received or the food that I ate. But I will always remember most those feelings that entered my heart and testimony I gained from remembering our Lord Jesus Christ in that way each Christmas Eve. We can all remember the In-Keeper mentioned in the 2nd chapter of Luke, who told Mary and Joseph there was no room in the inn, and that they had to go elsewhere. This Christmas each and every one of us is the In-Keeper, and we decide whether or not there is room enough in our lives for Jesus Christ. Let us all put Christ at the center of all we do and say this holiday season. Love him. Adore him. Admire him. And emulate him. Thank him for the greatest gift ever given to mankind. The Atonement. No greater gift can or ever will be given.

I would like now to share an experience that I cherish and love from my mission, one that has a great impact on me. One that helped me understand more fully the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the example he set for us, and how we can emulate him. Late one afternoon while proselyting were walking along a dirt road on our way to our next appointment after church, when it started to rain really hard. So we stopped and waited for sometime underneath the overhang of the nearest building. While we were waiting for the rain to stop a little 5 year old girl was running down the road, on her way home I presume. While she was running she slipped on some mud and took a hard fall right on her face. She lay in the middle of the street crying. There were a lot of people nearby but nobody would stop to help her. It was as if they didn't see her. I couldn't just stand there and watch this little girl lying in the street scratched up and crying, so I ran over to where she was and picked her up in my arms and carried her over to the building we were sitting under. I washed her face off with my tie and then wiped off the rest of her body the best I could. She was still bawling. I talked to her small in Fante and after a while I was able to cheer her up. I got her to smile and talk a little. When she was smiling again and happy and cleaned up we sent her on her way and continued on. Afterward my tie was covered in thick muddy clay and my shirt was completely covered in mud from top to bottom from carrying her in my arms. There was no white to be found. But I couldn't have been happier. I will never forget the feeling that came to me afterward. I had never felt more in my entire life what it really meant when they say; "We are the Lord's hands" "We are his servants" "We represent the Savior and do what he would do". I have never felt closer to the Savior. It was a simple and small act of kindness. But I was the Lord's hands and I was doing what he would have done.

I wanted to share this story because we need to always be on the look out for those that are struggling, not only physically, but also spiritually. It will bless your life more for helping , than it will bless the one in need. I have never been happier in my entire life and felt more joy than what I experienced after helping this little girl. How many times has the Savior picked you up, cleaned you from your cuts and wounds? How many times has he come to the rescue when there was no one else there? I encourage each of us this Christmas season to stand firm as a representative of Jesus Christ and do what he would do. A heart-felt act of service is the greatest gift you can give this Christmas, and the blessings and feelings that follow are the greatest gift we can receive. There is no better way to put Christ at the Center of this holiday season.

I share my testimony with you that Christ is the center of everything. I know that he lives and that this is his church. And that he is our Savior and Redeemer. That he truly did suffer all things that we might not suffer, if we would repent and follow him. I've come to know that more than ever this past year. Serving amongst these humble faithful people in Ghana has been the most remarkable experience of my life. I am not sure I will ever want to leave. I have come to love the people of Africa in a way I can't express. In a way similar to the way Christ loves them. I love all of you. Many of you have a special place in my heart. You have made me who I am today, and I have you to thank for that. Thank you for your prayers. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. May the Lords choicest blessings be upon you.

Love, Elder Adams

December 6, 2010

2010-12-16T21:20:00.000-08:00

Fam,
Well we had a good week once again. We did a lot of contacting this week, which isn't something we do very often. We have had a lot of baptisms lately and right now our teaching pool is pretty small and the ward isn't pumping out as many referrals as they normally do, so we seem to not have many people to teach. We contacted in the wealthier part of our area, if you can even call it that, and met some smart people that speak pretty good English. We are excited to see if any of them progress. I've only baptized 2 contacts my whole mission, but they seem ready. At church on Sunday we had 19 of my recent converts there, 6 others are fisherman and have traveled, 3 were sick, and 2 are somehow having problems and have fallen a little less active, so we have some work to do there. One is a boy who Bishop asked us to teach and baptize who had been coming to church for over one year, but as soon as we baptized him he got sick and then hasn't come since. The other one was the 1st person I ever baptized like 3 weeks into my mission, and he was baptized because his girlfriend was a member and they were going to get married. He was active and strong for a few months, and then the girl broke off the marriage and now he is less active. Can't really blame him there. That's tough. So out of everyone of my recent converts in the last 10 months all are active except two! My goal is to get them coming again before I go, then I can leave Moree in peace and feel good about what I did there.

Lately I have been studying and pondering about the spirit. Preach My Gospel chapter 4 really gives wonderful advice and instruction on how to become more acquainted with the spirit and understand it better. I've been really having some good experiences, and the spirit is really becoming apart of my everyday prayers and study. It makes all the difference in the world. Something else I did this week that I don't normally do is read my Patriarchal blessing. I haven't really studied as much as I should. . Sunday I sat down and read it before church and boy was it sweet. I had some great insights and saw some things that I had never before realized. It's packed with amazing promises and blessings if we just stay faithful. It has some powerful blessings related to my mission, and I feel that there is a lot for me still to do here in Ghana. Read yours this week. See if anything new comes to your mind.

For Christmas we will be having a party at the mission home with another zone, Fosu Zone. It should be pretty awesome, and some good food which is always exciting, not to mention the air conditioning in the mission home is a little piece of heaven. I did receive your Thanksgiving package this Friday so that was awesome. I had a lovely meal that night. I'm still to eat the pie. Can't wait for that. Sorry if I have been spending more money leately from my account. I have been kinda of buying a few more things than normal. Anyway how is school going? Are you loving school right now or what? Are you guys all ready for Christmas this year and excited. Anything new to tell me?? I haven't heard from anyone of my friends in like 3 months or so. Sounds like Miles is tearing it up on the court. Is the competition still at a pretty high level and fun to watch? Well anyway that's about all I have for this week. Ma, I love you and thanks for all that you do, the packages, the emails, the 20 dollar bill. You’re the best. I hope everything is going well for you right now. I can't wait to be able to talk on Christmas. It will be a lot of fun. Love you always.

Love Elder Adams

November 29, 2010

2010-12-16T21:12:00.000-08:00

Well, another fine week we had. It was actually one of the sweetest of my mission in a few ways. Tuesday we went on splits with the assistants and that is always fun. You can really learn a lot from those guys who have a lot of experience. But Friday was such an awesome day. We were invited by Andrew Aikins to play in a football game at Moree Park, which is right in the center of the town. We were playing with his school teachers vs students, and we were on the teacher’s team. Our team had the sweetest uniforms ever. We had legit jerseys and team short shorts, you know soccer style, so we looked pretty legit. I must say I can't quite pull off the short shorts with my thunder thighs though. You will see some funny pics. The sweetest part was we were playing against some of our investigators, who really aren't all that serious anymore. So I beat up on them a little bit and knocked em around, but they still made me look like a fool with their mad football skills. We ended in a tie 2-2. I think we got a few contacts out of the whole thing and maybe some really good investigators. But it was by far the funnest football game ever. Right after the game the couple missionaries the Saunders came and picked us up in Moree to take us to their area. I had to do a baptismal interview for them there. Actually my first baptism interview. It turned out that the man I was interviewing, John Nketsiah., for baptism was a man that me and Elder Mackay taught maybe 8 months ago!! I was so excited and the interview was awesome, he had a very strong testimony and was so ready. He even said that me and Elder Mackay and his friends from Moree are the reason why he continued with the church when he left Moree. That was one of the neatest experiences I have had. It truly just shows that no effort is wasted and that even if we don't get to see the person baptized or if we don't continue teaching them, that the seed can still be planted. I think the Lord allowed me to be able to interview this man and gave me this experience to teach me a lesson. This experience strengthened my testimony so much. It really just opens my eyes that we can make a difference everyday, even if we don't realize it. And then to add to it I was able to conduct the baptism on Saturday in which John Nketsiah was baptized, along with 3 of our own candidates from Moree. It was a neat experience.

Sunday at church we had all of our candidates confirmed. Our ward is also making some changes and Andrew Aikins became the Young Mens President and Belinda who was confirmed, Sunday became the Relief Society secretary. It is really sweet to be able to see all of our recent converts getting serious callings. Oh and they had a primary program on Sunday. I am not going to lie but these kids made the kids back home look bad. We had 6 and 7 year old kids memorize the articles of faith and say all of them perfectly, and in English. One kid even memorized like an entire chapter from the Book of Mormon and repeated it perfectly. It was pretty impressive. All of the kids are really well mannered too when it comes to something like that. Probably because if they aren’t they will get beat, unlike back home where they will receive a biscuit to shut them up. Other than that not much that I can think of. I didn't really celebrate Thanksgiving because when we were out proselyting that day Elder Brown felt sick so I had to eat a giant bowl of rice balls and soup and fish all by myself that a member gave us, so when I got home I was to full to eat anything. It sounds like you guys had a good Thanksgiving. I am excited for Nevada, but more mad because now am not there to see it the only year that they are even good. But it is fun to rub it in Elder Browns face that BYU lost and Nevada won. That makes things better.

Well missions going pretty well right now, but I do kind of feel like I need a change. I’ve feel like I just replay the same day over and over sometimes now that I have been in the same area for so long. But at the same time it’s really sweet because I get to see how my recent converts are doing and even have cool experiences like I had this week. So it all has its ups and downs, but mostly ups. I am glad everything is going well and I look forward to hearing from you next week. I am grateful to have a family who writes me every week. I love you guys. Keep the faith and let your light so shine for all to see.

Love, Elder Adams

ps. I will write Bishop next week when I email if you guys are
wondering. And miles don't be a weenie, shoot the ball a lot. I want
at least 20 a game, come on now this is 3A were taking about, take
over now. Something random, look for a drink called Malta. I think guiness
makes it. It’s the best drink ever you should try it. Plus I want to
know if they have it in the US.

November 21, 2010

2010-12-12T00:58:00.000-08:00

My Family,
Well this week was another good one. They all just seem to run together and every week somehow just feels like the same thing over and over again, but I guess that is because I am doing the same thing over and over again. Go Figure! The week was good teaching wise, we had about 37 lessons or so this week and some new investigators. We had zone conference this week and it was pretty insane. Here’s the down low on the Ghana Cape Coast Mission........ Okay so they opened up Suanyani a city more north past Kumasi and right now it has only 6 missionaries and a couple. There are three different "groups" that are meeting together for church right now that just started. They purchased really big apartments so that they can have church in the missionaries apartments on Sunday. And right now it is growing and there are about 70 people going to church in Suanyani, but very few are members I believe. So they are really trying to expand that area of the mission and work there and fast. The city is big like well over a million I think. Now for Kumasi. It is the same size as Accra at least pretty close to it. But Accra has 5 stakes and Kumasi only has 1 stake and there are like 40 chapels in Accra, an only 8 in Kumasi and people won’t go to church a lot in Kumasi because they have to travel so far. So what they are going to do is purchase a whole bunch of big apartments in Kumasi for missionaries and a few more in Suanyani so that they can have church in them like the others. And President is going to send a bunch of missionaries to these new areas that haven’t been opened and we are going to establish "groups" all over the place, which will then turn to branches and districts, and then to wards and stakes. It will give people many places to go to church so that they don’t have to travel so far. They have 20 areas picked already for the groups to be established and they have already purchased a few more apartments. So in the next year and years coming look out! This mission is going to blow up!!!
Now the reason why we are able to do this is because of the amount of missionaries in the mission. We have tons of wards or branches where there are 4 missionaries serving in the same ward or branch. And tests show that 2 missionaries in a ward get the same number of baptisms as 4 missionaries. They just split the baptisms. So they are going to take all of the missionaries that are 4 in a ward and put them in these new areas to start groups, and the work is going to double we hope. President Snow said " the Ghana Cape Coast Mission has the power to baptize thousands". President Sabey is taking that serious and we are striving to baptize over 2000 people in the next year. It’s not our focus, but he says if we do this and we work hard, it will happen. Now how is that for where this mission is going!! But at the same time there is still some few problems with disobedience in the mission and laziness, but things are improving. Anyway that is a shortened version of what we heard in Zone Conference. Its gunna be interesting to see.
Well here is a summary of the rest of the week. Tuesday as apart of our district meetings when we finish with the instruction side of things we take 30 min to do something "cultural". This week we went and Elder Katoa taught us how to climb palm trees. Man its fun, but not easy. My goal is to be able to climb one all the way before I go home. So every week we do a cultural activity as a district so that we can learn more about the culture and also have more unity in our district. I think it will be cool to see, our district is so awesome. This week we are making fufu from start to finish. Saturday I went on splits with Elder Mortensen to Yamoransa. It was cool to see what the work was like in a different area, but man did I miss Moree. We did a lot of contacting because the ward there doesn’t hand out referrals like Moree does. I am so grateful to serve in the Moree ward, the members are awesome. We actually ended up teaching a couple girls and a 9 year old kid who thought he was a thug haha. He had a big chain, baggy pants, nice phone, and a few bills to flash.... But when we asked him where he got the money he said that his mom gave it to him haha. He had a picture of 50 cent on his wall. He said that 50 cent is handsome, but he doesn’t like his character haha. The kid was so funny. Then at the end we met a deaf kid who was like 4. He will never be able to communicate his life because nobody can teach him sign language. He will never know his own name either. Pretty sad huh? It was my first time going on splits though, so it was pretty fun. Stake conference was Sunday. It was one of those televised ones and Elder Oaks, Sister Dibb, Elder Golden, and President Packer spoke. They talked a lot about temples and some other pretty normal church stuff, but Elder Oaks really targeted the cultural issues that are conflicting with the way the church is run. Such as the bride price that they pay when they get married. WAY TO MANY people here don't get married until middle aged because they can't pay the pride price. So they pretty much said that has to be done away with. They also talked about funerals and how we shouldn’t spend our life’s saving just to bury someone, which is something they really do here. They go into debt like crazy over funerals. But they also talked about they have really strong family ties here and praised them on a few other things. It was really sweet, and the week was a really good one.
I love you guys and I am so thankful for the examples that you are to me. Thanks for the great emails, and I hope you have a good Thanksgiving. Love you all and take care.

Love Elder Adams.

11-15-10

2010-11-17T19:04:00.000-08:00

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My Family,
Okay so this week was pretty epic, and it has absolutely nothing to do with missionary work. It was Elder Mortensens year mark and because Elder Katoa is a Tongan we bought a huge pig for a feast. Elder Katoa killed the big with a stick and a tiny pocket knife, that guy is crazy. Then we cleaned it and gutted it, threw it on a stick and cooked it over a fire that we made behind our place. It took about three hours to cook, and the whole time we had to stand there and rotate the pig so that it cooked nicely. Then we brought it in the house and set it on the table (we even had palm leaves for the full affect to set on the table) and then we chomped for a solid hour. In all we had a lot of pineapple, a lot of yam, and stew and lots of minerals(soda pop) and the pig. It fed about 10 of us. It was so goooood!!!!!! It was the first time we have had a lot of meat so we ate until we couldn't eat anymore. It was awesome. I want to do it when I go home cuz it is so sweet!

Okay, so as for missionary related activities this week I went to the specialized leadership training where ZL and DL were instructed by President on how to improve our teaching skills and leadership abilities. We talked a lot about being a good leader and how we need to raise ourselves to a higher level of obedience and discipline, and how we need to work extra hard so that the other missionaries will have a good example to look to. The rest of the time we discussed about how to recognize and follow the spirit and how to invite someone to be baptized in the very first lesson. It was very interesting. It is actually a world wide thing that they are doing with every mission. But we learned a lot of cool and stuff and then we did some role play. Something that I never truly understood was that the spirit can guide us and lead us even when we are doing role play and practicing together. It sounds crazy but that is what the 12 have said, and when we practiced together in certain situations I was actually lead by the spirit to address a certain concern or to say something that I never would have thought of. The spirit is difficult to recognize sometimes, and it was so cool, you can actually practice learning how to recognize it. Then at the very end we went through 3 Nephi 11 together and talked about the doctrine of Christ. I never realized just how much is really in that chapter about baptism. It is interesting that the very 1st thing Christ teaches is baptism when he appears to the Nephites and it is also interesting to note that there are only 2 other times where Heavenly Father introduced his son and you heard his voice (to Joseph Smith and when Christ was baptized) One other thing that is interesting is to look and see when Christ repeats himself. If he does that it must be important. I don't know it was an interesting training, but a real eye opener. So that is just a small taste of how those training meeting go if that helps at all.

So this week we put into practice some of the things that I learned from the training. And it sure did help. We asked our investigator named Belinda Eghan that I told you about to commit to be baptized, and without any hesitation she said yes! It was the most confident I have ever heard anyone agree to be baptized. She is totally ready. I am 100 percent sure that she will be baptized in 2 weeks. We are looking forward to that. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. Oh and she talks in the exact same voice that Whitney always talks in, that annoying baby voice haha, totally reminded me of that the first time I heard her speak. As for the orphanages and stuff like that I really don't know. You have to understand that I am in a poor fishing village practically isolated from the entire world and I don't know anything about adoptions or AIDS. The only thing I hear about is when the fishing is good, or when it sucks, ha. But I will try and do some research this week and ask about it, I am sure I will be able to find out something. I will ask Brother Pratt in the ward, we’re tight and he would probably know. Bro Pratt has applied to go to BYU and will be going I think around the time that I come home, so you will probably get to meet him because I will definitely want to see him. Just a little heads up. Well church this week wasn't very good, we had 18 people total at sacrament meeting. We had a huge thunder storm Sat night and Sun morning so nobody came to church. It was pretty bad. I did confirm one of our recent converts on Sunday so that was sweet, his name is Jacob he’s a stud. This week is Stake conference and some of our investigators will receive that Melchizedek priesthood so that will be awesome and we also have Zone Conference tomorrow. Gunna be a good week. Well I am not sure what else to write. I know I am leaving out all kinds of things, so just go read Elder Browns blog he types really fast and he loves writing so it will have a lot more stuff I am sure. I love you all and thanks for all the emails this week. I knew if I said something you would all write. Thanks a bunch and I am glad you are all doing well. Take care until next week.
Much love,
Elder Adams

11-8-10

2010-11-09T22:30:00.000-08:00

My Family,
Well it has been an exciting week and a very good one at that. To start things of we got a new missionary in the apartment one of my MTC mates. His name is Elder Katoa and he is from Tonga. He came on his mission and he couldn't speak English at all, but now he is doing really well and can speak it well enough to hold an okay conversation. I still have a hard time understanding some words he says though. He is pretty big, but not fat, just ripped and cut out of his mind. Them Polynesians are so dang strong. He played rugby back home. And he is a pretty intimidating guy. But man all Polynesians are the happiest most exciting people to be around. Its gunna be sweet having him in the apartment. We are gunna buy some pigs, kill em, and cook them ourselves too with his help. I will let you know how that goes. I am pretty excited about that.

Another interesting thing that has happened this week is I got ring worm all over my right arm and a HUGE boil also on the same arm. Last night the boil was getting painful so I poked it with a needle and a massive amount of puss came out! So sweet! If you watch the biggest zit on utube you will have an idea. Then I did the same thing this morning. But now my arm swelled up and it just looks like a have one huge arm that’s ripped ha-ha. But it doesn’t hurt anymore so its all good. It’s pretty common to get. I think it is because of how much we sweat or something I don't know.

Okay now a story about one of our investigators. We are currently teaching an 18 year old girl who is really powerful Belinda Eghan and she has some uncles who are members. She has been coming to church the past 3 weeks and she is solid. Okay now Wednesday morning we picked a car to go to Moree from our apartment In the trotro we met a man from Accra who was a member, and he was also going to Moree. He was all excited when he met us, which we didn't understand cuz he was a member. He said he was going to paint his family house and then dedicate it. He told us he was praying to find the missionaries on the way so that they could help him to do it. Okay so we bought that. When we got to Moree junction we picked another taxi and then we drove together to his family house. To our surprise we pulled right up to the house that Belinda lives in with her old grandmother. I thought at first maybe it was just her uncle, but when I asked Belinda if he was just just glared at me and said that she hated him. Right then I knew we had gotten ourselves in a pickle. We followed the man into the house and immediately the guy started pushing the old woman and threw her out the front door. But the old lady wasn't gunna give up that easy. She came back and again the guy shoved her really hard and threw her out again and locked the door. Meanwhile Belinda was just staring at us through the window. It was the most awkward feeling ever. So then the guy called the cops to come, and that is when we decided we needed to leave. So we said we had an appointment and we bailed before we got involved. So the story is.... The guy owns the house according to him, and lets them stay there, and according to Belinda they own half of the house. So now she might be mad at us, but we met her afterward and everything seems to be okay. Haha it was crazy, our investigator thought that we came to kick her out on the street. And the guy we went with from Accra wasn't what I would call a kind Latter-Day Saint. So there is a small story for ya.

Now the home teaching is going well. They showed me a sheet on Sunday and all of our recent converts have home teachers, and most of them have home teaching assignments along with the members. So we are making progress and hopefully before I go we have a good program up and running, at least that is my home. We are taking a lot more of our time going with people to home teach and taking the various church leaders out on splits with us. Things are looking good. As far as teaching in church we don't really have to ever stand up and correct any false doctrine or anything like that. The leaders pretty much understand how everything works. Home teaching is kind of the only thing we have ever helped a lot with.

Sunday we watched conference in church. The tapes from Salt Lake finally came in. So we watched conference for about 5 hours and finished Saturday and then some of Sunday I think. Overall my favorite was Elder Gong. I don't know why but I really liked that guy and his talk. He seems way awesome. But other than that it was really really good. President Monson might be getting a little old, he was a little off on his jokes this time around I thought haha, but he gave some good talks. I really want you to send me the conference on cd so that I can listen to it and follow along in the Liahona. It is really sweet that way.
Our recent converts are all doing really well. I think out of all the people I have baptized only 1 is less active, and that is because his girlfriend who is a member dumped him and now he won’t come back because she is there. It’s too bad, but the rest are doing really good. Andrew Aikins is going to be put in the Elders Quorum right after he receives the Melchizedek Priesthood in 2 weeks. He has only been baptized for 1 month about and he was interpreting what the Apostles we saying in conference into Fante in church. Man I know I talk about that guy all the time but he really is just awesome. It is still fishing season in Moree so a lot of our recent-converts have traveled for fishing. I think right now we are getting a little over 100 poeple at church a week, but after fishing sometimes we can get as many as 140 or 150. Right now our teaching pool is pretty small because we have been having baptisms and working on other things more than normal, so this past week we worked on finding some new investigators. We met a man named Kofi Akwon and he is an interesting character. He invited is into his house and he had teachings of the prophet for almost every prophet, Book of Mormon, D & C, Gospel Principles, and all kinds of stuff. He said that his religion is called Yoga! Whatever that means. He seems to know a lot so it should be fun teaching him, but I am not to sure how he will accept it. I hope he takes it well. Other than him and Belinda we are teaching a carpenter, a random woman, and then a few students that Andrew Aikins teaches. So things are a little slow but we are still making progress okay.

Today we just got done playing basketball for our P Day. The court was okay, wooden hoops, really sucky rims and puddles all over the court because it rained this morning. But it was a lot of fun. It was only the second time that I have played on my mission. And boy do I suck!!! I can't imagine how sucky I will be by the time I go home haha. But it was fun.

Well that about raps things up for the week. Another gone and they keep going faster. Well I really don't know what you should send me for Christmas because really I don't need anything but here are a few ideas.

Something I do want is MOTAB cds with Christmas music, anything that isn't church songs, but it has to be MOTAB, mission rule. Stationary for letters and some more stamps I am almost out. Church Dvds like I said before. They are really good for baptisms and family home evening but they don't have any to really buy here that I want. Scripture Markers. The ones I brought are finished. Mapleline or whatever. It is good to make syrup for pancakes. I want a really good but small camera case that I can latch onto my belt to proselyte with, but my camera is still doing okay so I don;t really need a new one. Im out of vitamins. And some hydroxycut because I am so fat. haha jk

I think that is really all I can come up with. Well it sounds like you are all doing really well and all is good. Haven’t heard from Tris or Whit for a while how are they? China sounds pretty sweet! That’s a really cool story about the temple blocks being built by them. It is a stepping stool that’s for sure. Well it is nice to hear how you are doing and all. I am doing great and just trying to enjoy everyday of my mission no matter what happens. And so far I love it and I have had a blast. The people here are so awesome. I have truly fallen in love with the people and it just makes the work that much better. I know that the church is true, and it has been such a testimony builder to witness it in a far away land and see that it is just the same. It is the Lords kingdom. And I am so thankful to be apart of it and sharing it with the African People.

I love mom, dad, miles, whit, tris, derek, and cody. And that’s not in any particular order. Take care and I look forward to hearing from you again next week.
Elder Adams

November 1, 2010

2010-11-06T23:02:00.000-07:00

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(I just posted Garrett's last 3 letters)
Adams Family,

Sorry the power just went out in town as I was about to send my email to you. So because I am limited on time this will be relatively short. But it was a great week. We just received transfer news and I am staying in good ol Moree for another 6 weeks. I am still companions with Elder Brown which I am super excited about. The past while has been a blast. And the new Elder that is coming to my apartment to join Elder Mortensen is a Tongan Elder, and he is my MT, his name is Elder Katoa and he is the coolest dude ever. I am so stoked that I am staying just because of that, but also for many other reasons.

Well this week we had the privilege of also being with a seventy named Elder Ahadgi. Crazy how things worked out for both Jeff and me in the same week. What’s even crazier is we met while we were proselyting. He is over the Nigerian area. He is the contractor on the new chapel and we were able to meet with him late one night at the chapel sight and we ended up talking for about an hour and 15 min. I didn’t even know who he was when I first saw him. It was one of the sweetest experiences I have had. We seriously talked about everything from where the next temple in Africa will be, to his conversion story. He even gave us a little doctrine. He told us to read 1 Nephi 1 and compare the story of Lehi to the story of Joseph Smith and then see the comparisons of how God calls prophets to restore his gospel. It was sweet you should try it too. Elder Ahadgi is one of the nicest men I have ever met in my life and it was a night I will never forget.

This week we also went farming way out in the bush and were able to see a white mans house who is a huge drug trafficker of cocaine. But unfortunately we didn't get to see the cocaine fields or anything like that. But I know that man will never be caught because it is in the middle of absolutely no where. We also had a baptism this week and it went well. We had to do it at the beach which was fun because the whole town of Yamornasa has been out of water the past 3 days. That's a whole other story. We baptized a 21 year old man who is dating one of our strongest members. He is a real stud and he owns his own barber shop and cuts our hair every week. It’s pretty sweet too because they cut it all African like with straight edges and stuff haha. But anyway he has a very powerful testimony and when the ZL interviewed him they said you don’t have to worry about this guy, he will never fall away from the church. But he is the only guy that we baptized this week.

Now to the water. Our area has been out of water since Friday. We have been fetching water from one of the couple missionaries in our town who had a special supply. Man I tell you if I had to fetch water to take a shower or to wash the dishes everyday of my life I wouldn't only be the strongest man alive but the most humble too, because it really makes you realize how much we have. So we ran out of water last night and had no drinking water or water to go to the bathroom or shower or anything. It’s been a fun past few days, but they just fixed the water line a few hours ago so we should be back to normal.

Dad I got the email and it was very helpful and it will surely bless the ward if they get their home teaching going well. I feel like that might be why I am still in Moree, because the lord still has things that he wants me to do there, I KNOW he does. So I am excited to be here for the next 6 weeks and continue to serve in the area. Man this next transfer is going to be sweet and I can’t wait. I am really excited for Jefferey (Hendrix) to be heading off so soon. I can’t wait to be able to hear how he does. It truly will be the greatest blessing and learning experience we can ever have as young men. Well it’s been a fun adventure the past week and I’m sure we will have more to tell next week. I know that the church is true. I love you all and I can’t wait to hear from you next week. Oh, and Dad I will remember that you said you would take me to China!!!! I also got the package this week with the cards so thank you very much and the package was really sweet and we watched the Priesthood session of conference today, it’s the only part we have seen so far. It was really good.

Love Elder Adams

October 25, 2010

2010-11-06T22:59:00.000-07:00

Heyheyhey,
Well another week gone. Time goes by so fast. Transfers are next week and I have a feeling that I am going, but really I have no idea. I have been in my first area for 9 months now, and I kind of want to get out and see what else there is in this place, but at the same time I love my area and can't think of serving anywhere else. So it will be exciting to see what happens. Really I don't care, it's all the same great work. Well this week was sweet. We met a less active women who claims to be one of the pioneers and we went to her farm and weeded for about 3 hours in the morning with my cutlass in hand. It was sweet. Talk about going to the bush! In every direction it’s just green, its pretty crazy. The women says that she knows the church is true but that she can't come back because now she is a member of another church. Man sometimes people just don't get it. It just makes no sense in my head, but I guess we are privileged to know what we do. I need to be more understanding. I think what we are teaching people sounds pretty ridiculous sometimes to. Our recent convert named Andrew Aikins is the most powerful man ever. This week we learned that he fasted for 3 days straight the week after his baptism. He missed an appointment and he said that he had gone out to find a place where he could pray in peace. And he lost track of time. He said he prayed for a greater understanding of what his baptism really means now and to strengthen his spirit. Seriously just baptizing him has made my whole mission worth while. He is going places, it’s so sweet. D & C 18: 15 is so true! That's why it is my scripture.

Oh and one thing that I could use some help with is home teaching and how that all works and how you guys do it. We had a meeting with the Bishopric this week and they straight up told us that they didn't know how to set it up and that the ward has no home teaching program at all. They want us to help them to put it into practice and basically set it up for them and then show them how to run it. I got them all preach my gospels to and this Sunday we are supposed to teach the ward council and the Bishopric all about it and make sure it works. The last 9 months I haven't done much about it because I made sure to never step on bishops toes, but now he has come to us and we have a really good relationship. I know small about it but help me out. Other than that not much from the teaching stand point. And nothing I can really think of out of the ordinary. But this week I have done a lot of pondering and thinking, really about everything. Sometimes I just stop and think that I should be so much farther along in my spiritual growth and knowledge of the gospel. I mean I have been here 9 months and I still feel like a small boy. I have always just thought missionaries knew everything. So not true in my case. Everyone thinks that Elder Brown is training me haha. I also think a lot about you guys. I honestly don't get homesick, I am just not that kind of guy, I love the adventure and all that mission brings. I don't know if I'll ever want to go home. But this week I feel like I am finally starting to see what it would be like to be together forever. I don't know about you but heaven would not be heaven without your family. It could be the most glorious and wonderful place but without you guys it wouldn't be heaven. It's that simple. Anyways, that's just why this gospel is so wonderful. I KNOW THAT ITS TRUE! I would never be convinced otherwise! Guys I am loving the mission. It's so sweet to be able to just learn about the gospel all day, everyday. There is so much we can learn and we should never be satisfied. I love you all so much and I am lucky to have such a wonderful family and parents. Take care and I love you.

Elder Adams
Okay packages.... Send bearcreek soups. Send scripture markers. New flip flops. oh and shoe goo stuff. One of my pairs is dying. I want you to send all the church videos possible that I can use to
teach with except the testaments. I have that one. And Mormon tab cds. That’s all we can listen to. And anything else that your little heart desires. Love you

October 18, 2010

2010-11-06T22:57:00.000-07:00

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Fam.

Well another week has come and gone. This week was a stressful week. We had a baptism this Saturday so we prepared the 6 people for baptism, everything was going smoothly, then Saturday comes around. We round everyone up for the baptism and we all go to the chapel where are Bishop is supposed to have a trotro waiting to take all of us to the chapel in the next town to do the baptism. Well are Bishop went to Northern Ghana and wasn't even there like he said he would be the day before. And he told our 1^st Counselor to get everything together. He was at school taking tests, so he couldn't come and the 2^nd Counselor was at a funeral. So we had nobody from the Bishopric to preside like we had planned a week before. And to make things better we had no money on us because we got new sub this week. I only had 1 cedi. So we had no money and 22 people that we had to somehow get to the next town to do the baptism. And they all looked at us like what the crap! I was stressed. Luckily we found a taxi driver who was willing to let us pay him the next day. So he took a few trips and we crammed like 10 people in a 5 person taxi, very hectic. Then we get to the chapel and we don't have keys because we don't have anyone from the bishopric. So we found someone from the ward there and luckily we got a key. So we got everyone in and dressed and ready. We had our Elders Quorum President preside conduct and do the baptizing haha. We had some few talks, and then called it good. Then when the baptism was over we still had to find a way for everyone to get home because they have no money and we have no money, but we found a way, or at least God did. The service was good, but everything leading up to was not fun, but now that I look back on it I just laugh. Sunday, however, was the complete opposite. Everyone showed up to the chapel on time for their confirmations. Then everyone was interviewed that could receive the priesthood and they received it this Sunday which was awesome. And we baptized the teacher who is a powerful man. I can see him being the Bishop or something when they split the ward very soon. I’m excited to see what calling he receives. He will be a great strength to the ward. So we went from a crazy hectic baptism to a very calm and peaceful Sunday. It was a relief.

Other than that this week was pretty normal. One thing that was cool was we got to greet a Sister missionary who returned home toMoree from the Accra mission. It was weird, a taxi pulled up to where we were standing and out got a girl with her tag on. We were like what the heck. So we helped her carry her bags up a mountain to her house. It was cool, we talked for like an hour about her mission and all kinds of stuff. I felt bad though because there was nobody there to meet her or welcome her home. Just us, and that was only luck. But she was a very sweet girl and a really good missionary. It was a cool experience.

I really like what you said to do with the recent converts and stuff. I will try and come up with a way to do it and not step on Bishops toes. But I really like the idea. Other than that everything is going good. It was a fun and exciting week and the work is going really good. I have been praying my whole mission everyday for investigators to be placed in our path who are future leaders and who can help build up our ward that is relatively new. Right now we have baptized 2 and we are teaching 4. I am so excited and I love teaching them. The Lord has really answered our prayers. It’s really been a test of patience and trust but he has once again come through and blessed us greatly. It’s so sweet to see how he does his work. It really is amazing and everyday I see and notice something new, I see his hand in the work constantly. It is his work, and he does it well, I am so glad to be a part of it and have these wonderful experiences. Nothing can compare.

I think that is so crazy what happened to Billy (Sorensen) on his way home. Man I hope I have a sweet story like that or something crazy happen to me. I probably already have I just don't realize it. Anyway I am thankful to have wonderful parents and a wonderful family. I am loving my mission and all that it brings. You guys have no idea how sweet it really is. Well I love you and can't wait to hear from you next week.
Love Elder Adams

No emails the past 2 weeks

2010-10-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

Long Time,Well the past few weeks the internet has been really sucky and even today I almost didn't email, but we finally found a cafe that had a connection that was working okay. So forgive me if you will. I have actually had a lot of really sweet experiences the past few weeks, so I will try and include a few. So I don't have any good excuses, but I’m thousands of miles away and you can't do anything so ha!!! Deal with it mom :) jk
Um, well where do I start. In the last three weeks we have had interviews with president, Elder Brown got sick for the first time, we had a temple training because we didn't get to go to the temple, and I don't get to go for 2 years which serious blows, we had a really good baptism the past weeks, and we have another on Saturday where we will be baptizing the smartest most powerful investigator I have ever had on my mission. And Sunday we had 19 investigators at church and 12 of them were boys between the ages of 16 and 24, and all 12 were in white shirts and ties. Sweetest picture ever! So freakin sweeeet!! So the past while has been very busy, hectic, and fun as ever. Friday we had a temple training. It was cool because President really taught us some sweet things about life. We talked a lot about the significance of the temple and how it is the greatest blessing in our lives if we will use it correctly. We can take any problem to the temple. And even while we are in the temple its like we don't have any problems at all. It’s a win win situation. They say that whatever you think about in the temple is who you are, because there satan really has no power, so its a good way to judge where your heart is at. If you can’t have good clean thoughts in the temple, you might want to take a good look at yourself. We talked a lot about marriage actually and how everything we do prior to kneeling at the alter in the temple is to prepare us for that covenant we will make, and how everything we do after that moment is to help us keep that covenant. In all eternity the single most important thing we do is get married in the temple. It was pretty crazy to think about it in that way, but right now I don't want to think about it. So I won't. So that conference was really sweet. We got to ask President and Sister Sabey any questions we wanted, and they gave us some sweet feedback. I really want to go to the temple, so bad, but I guess it will be that much sweeter when I get home.
So that’s a little bit about that, now interviews were really sweet with President. That was a few weeks back. Um from the way things seem and just from the feeling that I have I think there is a good chance that I could be transferred this coming transfer. I have been in Moree for a really long time and 9 months is a little more than normal, and I have trained Elder Brown for a while now. However I love Moree and I would love to stay right where I am at. The ward is sweet and there is some serious progress going on there. It’s crazy. The Lord has really been blessing us, and I would love to continue thework there, but a change would be sweet too. That’s kind of just how I felt after my interview with President. He also said that he could tell I came from a very strong family and had great parents, so you must be doing something right. But don't get a big head. Your work isn't over. Miles is definitely your greatest challenge ha jk.
I don't know if I have told you about my new mission goal. We are supposed to baptize a referral from a recent convert and then help a recent convert to prepare names for the temple and then get them to the temple to do the baptisms for their ancestors. This is a sweet goal because we have been doing a lot of work with the new family search site and yesterday we spent all afternoon on the computer with our powerful investigator Andrew doing his for him so that he can go to the temple right after his baptism. It should be sweet, and it will be very fulfilling and we are going to try and do it with all of our recent converts so they learn to love the temple and will go back. Now on a different subject. I have been trying to come up with a way to get the ward more involved with the missionary work, even though they already are a lot of help, and I think I am going to get every member of the ward council a Preach My Gospel book and then try and get the ward to help take over more in teaching the final lessons to our recent converts along with our help. But I want them to take over. We will teach a little about it in the next ward council and see what they think. This will help the recent converts to get to know their various leaders in the ward and it will bind them to the members, and not us. Plus we have to many recent converts right now and we are having a really hard time being able to meet with all of them and then our current investigators too. And we can't neglect anyone. So if you have any ideas or feedback there let me know what we can do. But I think we will try that for now.Our baptism this Saturday should be sweet. We should have about 8 people if all goes well. Other than that, not much is happening. There was a dove standing on the overhang all through church on Sunday, so I guess the spirit was present. That was cool haha. Really things are just going 100 miles and hour and I’m trying to keep up. Seriously there is a lot going on and we have so many people to teach right now. When we come home at night I am exhausted and I have been going to sleep like 1 hour earlier than normal, which I never do. The work is sweet, but it’s still work. I had to leave a few thingsUm, well where do I start. In the last three weeks we have had interviews with president, Elder Brown got sick for the first time, we had a temple training because we didn't get to go to the temple, and I don't get to go for 2 years which serious blows, we had a really good baptism the past weeks, and we have another on Saturday where we will be baptizing the smartest most powerful investigator I have ever had on my mission. And Sunday we had 19 investigators at church and 12 of them were boys between the ages of 16 and 24, and all 12 were in white shirts and ties. Sweetest picture ever! So freakin sweeeet!! So the past while has been very busy, hectic, and fun as ever. Friday we had a temple training. It was cool because President really taught us some sweet things about life. We talked a lot about the significance of the temple and how it is the greatest blessing in our lives if we will use it correctly. We can take any problem to the temple. And even while we are in the temple its like we don't have any problems at all. It’s a win win situation. They say that whatever you think about in the temple is who you are, because there satan really has no power, so its a good way to judge where your heart is at. If you can’t have good clean thoughts in the temple, you might want to take a good look at yourself. We talked a lot about marriage actually and how everything we do prior to kneeling at the alter in the temple is to prepare us for that covenant we will make, and how everything we do after that moment is to help us keep that covenant. In all eternity the single most important thing we do is get married in the temple. It was pretty crazy to think about it in that way, but right now I don't want to think about it. So I won't. So that conference was really sweet. We got to ask President and Sister Sabey any questions we wanted, and they gave us some sweet feedback. I really want to go to the temple, so bad, but I guess it will be that much sweeter when I get home.
So that’s a little bit about that, now interviews were really sweet with President. That was a few weeks back. Um from the way things seem and just from the feeling that I have I think there is a good chance that I could be transferred this coming transfer. I have been in Moree for a really long time and 9 months is a little more than normal, and I have trained Elder Brown for a while now. However I love Moree and I would love to stay right where I am at. The ward is sweet and there is some serious progress going on there. It’s crazy. The Lord has really been blessing us, and I would love to continue thework there, but a change would be sweet too. That’s kind of just how I felt after my interview with President. He also said that he could tell I came from a very strong family and had great parents, so you must be doing something right. But don't get a big head. Your work isn't over. Miles is definitely your greatest challenge ha jk.
I don't know if I have told you about my new mission goal. We are supposed to baptize a referral from a recent convert and then help a recent convert to prepare names for the temple and then get them to the temple to do the baptisms for their ancestors. This is a sweet goal because we have been doing a lot of work with the new family search site and yesterday we spent all afternoon on the computer with our powerful investigator Andrew doing his for him so that he can go to the temple right after his baptism. It should be sweet, and it will be very fulfilling and we are going to try and do it with all of our recent converts so they learn to love the temple and will go back. Now on a different subject. I have been trying to come up with a way to get the ward more involved with the missionary work, even though they already are a lot of help, and I think I am going to get every member of the ward council a Preach My Gospel book and then try and get the ward to help take over more in teaching the final lessons to our recent converts along with our help. But I want them to take over. We will teach a little about it in the next ward council and see what they think. This will help the recent converts to get to know their various leaders in the ward and it will bind them to the members, and not us. Plus we have to many recent converts right now and we are having a really hard time being able to meet with all of them and then our current investigators too. And we can't neglect anyone. So if you have any ideas or feedback there let me know what we can do. But I think we will try that for now.Our baptism this Saturday should be sweet. We should have about 8 people if all goes well. Other than that, not much is happening. There was a dove standing on the overhang all through church on Sunday, so I guess the spirit was present. That was cool haha. Really things are just going 100 miles and hour and I’m trying to keep up. Seriously there is a lot going on and we have so many people to teach right now. When we come home at night I am exhausted and I have been going to sleep like 1 hour earlier than normal, which I never do. The work is sweet, but it’s still work. I had to leave a few things out this week that I’ll try and remember for next week, but its good to hear from all of you and read your emails. Please make me some cards that I can give to members in Moree with my name, phone number, address, and stuff like that, like a business card, so they can keep in contact with me when I get transferred. Um send me some easy cheese in the spray bottle please, that’s all I want is some cheese haha. Other than that everything is awesome. Hynm number 72 says "Ponder Anew What the Almighty Can Do". That has serious been something I have been pondering a lot lately. I have come to see that he can do anything, if we just trust in him. I know the church is true and that if we will stay faithful the Lord will work miracles in our lives. Let’s all look for his hand in our lives, and we will come to see just how much he does for us. I love you all and hope you have a great week.
Love Elder Adams

Sorry I have been slacking, there are 3 new posts today.

2010-09-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

Monday, September 20, 2010

Adams Family,
This week was an awesome week, we had a lot going on and we had a lot of fun at the same time. But of course we worked hard. On Tuesday we were privileged to hear from Elder Sitati and his wife at zone conference. I thought he would be kind of the type that would lecture us and all, but it was the complete opposite. He was super nice and was very soft spoken, and didn't lecture us at all. Guess I should have expected that he is a Seventy. He is a pretty tall and thick guy too. Didn't expect that either. But the conference was sweet. He taught us about the Fall and the Atonement. It was really, really good. Then after we ate lunch he taught us all about how to plan effectively in our weekly planning sessions and we tried it this week and it really worked pretty well. It didn't make much of a difference in the work but I know it will overtime. We also received our new mission goal. We have almost completed the previous one, to baptize someone that we found during a football match. There are a few more missionaries left, but it seems to be going well. Our new mission goal is to baptize someone that is a referral from a recent convert, and to help a recent convert go to the temple and do baptisms for the dead for at least one person. I am really excited for this goal, we get to learn more about temple work and also get to strengthen our recent converts a lot. It will be sweet.

Well the rest of the week we pretty much spent all of our time with our investigators helping them to prepare for baptism and going through the baptism interviews and all that fun stuff. It was a really good week. We baptized 5 of the 6 that we had planned to baptize. One women we couldn't baptize because, well it was that time of month, that’s all I’m going to say. So her baptism will be next week and it will probably be just her. The baptism at the beach this time was more crazy that the first time that I did mine. The waves were huge and they kept on knocking us over and making the kids really scared. We had a lot of child of records to baptize and it was probably the most horrifying experience of their lives. Africans for the most part hate the water. And especially when they are 8 years old. Yeah, so their baptism will never be forgotten at least. They will at least always remember it. So we baptized two young kids 12 and 13 who have been coming to church for like 3 years. I was really iffy about it just because they are so young, but they have been coming for a really long time. And they do have a testimony, or they would have stopped a long time ago. We baptized a boy about 16 and another boy about 17. They are both really powerful and one is the brother of the two boys on missions from our ward. And then we baptized another boy who was about 17. At lot of younger kids. But they say that that is a good thing and should be a focus because it will help the church to grow and be much more powerful in the future when they all grow up in the church and become leaders. It is sweet because Moree is full of kids that are powerful. Baptisms at the beach are sweet, but I really would rather do it at the chapel because it is a lot more spiritual. But it is fun.

Something random now is that I have really come to think that Sunday is my favorite day of the week on my mission because I love going to church and seeing who comes and what investigators show up. The service is in Fante and I never really know what is going on there so I have a lot of time to think and read whatever I want from the scriptures and stuff. I also love the children. I have like four little girls in the ward that love me and they always want to sit with me and I just draw with them in my notebook and stuff like that. I don't know, it is just a lot of fun. And it is always fun to go to church in the wooden school house. Nothing can compare.

Well I want to tell you small about the most golden investigator ever. A man named Andrew Aikens. He has been prepared for the gospel. He is a 28 year old teacher. We started teaching him a few weeks ago. He has read all of first Nephi, accepted every commitment, came to church, came to the baptism, asks all kinds of good questions, and is the sweetest person to teach. We have focused a lot of our teaching with him towards prayer, and now he is so powerful. After every lesson he is the one that always says we need to pray and he immediately kneels down and waits for us to kneel, and then he gives the most powerful prayers. You can just tell that he is speaking to God. It isn't big fancy words or anything, but it is just straight from the heart. He is golden. He is definitely the most enjoyable person to teach, ever. We could tell that he wasn't the most religious person when we met him but now he just knows it’s the truth. Man its sweet. He was a Catholic and never that active, but you can just see that he has found what he is looking for now. Well, that’s really about all for the week. Transfers were today and there were a lot of changes and people going all over the place, but me and Elder Brown are the same and I am going to be in Moree for 9 months at least. And I can say that I am glad, because I absolutely love it.

Okay now to your questions that I never answer. I want blank index cards please. I don't want a new camera I will just keep the one I have, it still works okay and I might as well just use it till it dies. The church building isn't coming all that fast. I bet it will take like 6 months or more. There will be a font in it, there is in every chapel in Ghana. The temple trip is in 3 weeks and I am so freakin excited. It will be two zones together I think but I’m not sure. And yes we do cut each others hair. I cut mine Saturday on a 1 and I look bald right now. The heat is coming and soon it will be miserable! I love you all so much and I am so grateful for all that you do for me and the wonderful examples that you are. I know that the church is true and that I am so grateful to be a member of the true church. The blessings are for all eternity. Keep the faith and know that I love you all so much. Take care until next week. Much love
Elder Adams

9/13/2010

2010-09-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

The Adams Family,

Well this week was pretty dang good. The Lord is really blessing us and the work in Moree is really improving. We are having another baptism on Sunday, we have 4 more candidates that are ready for baptism. We moved the baptism up a week early because transfers are coming next week and Elder Brown really wants to have a baptism at the beach, in case he gets transferred or something like that happens. It worked out nicely because our baptism candidates are ready anyway. So Sunday we are having another baptism at the beach after church. It should be a lot of fun and a good experience especially for Elder Brown. We have a new investigator that is just a stud and he is accepting everything. His name is Andrew Akens. He has already about finished reading first Nephi. It is the first person I have really taught who is smart that has progressed. I mean I have only taught like 3 people my whole mission who can read. We always look forward to teaching him. It’s a lot of fun.

Oh the new training meetings are for DL ZL and gunna be trainers. So I didn’t go to the training. We just had a short meeting with President over the obedience issue. But for district meeting they went over it all for us and we are doing a lot of things that will improve the work so much. It puts a big emphasis on helping the people to learn how to pray and receive answers to their prayers. It also talks a lot about preparing people for baptism in the very first lesson. Missionaries often shy away from baptism and mentioning it because they are scared that they will scare off the person from investigating. But they have said that it is our purpose and that we need to start our discussions and first few by explaining that we are helping them to prepare for baptism. It is really sweet and we have already seen it work with Andrew Akens. I’m excited for the future training meetings. They really show us how to do the work more effectively.

Well my B Day was pretty awesome. The Saunders brought me over a nice big cake with chocolate frosting the morning of my B Day, which she made with the powdered sugar you sent me. So that came in handy. I actually just gave it to her because she wanted it for something else, and then two months later she made me a cake with it. Pretty good investment. The Saunders always do stuff for me that’s so unexpected. They are pretty much awesome. The couple missionaries we have are so sweet. They also brought me over my packages from you at the same time. So we opened that. Wow you sent some dang good stuff. The mp3 player is already sitting in the mission home. Sorry, we are only allowed to have cd players now with the whole obedience issue. So it will be a nice treat for the plain ride home. I’m not gunna lie I was pretty disappointed, that thing was sweet. So I hope it didn’t cost too much. We actually had an unique personal and companion study that morning. We had a nice one on one tournament with the apartment. Nerf basketball gets pretty intense. We played for like an hour. The evening of my birthday the Pratt’s cooked us a fat African feast. We had fufu and light soup with chicken and fish, we had a bunch of jolof rice, we had banana cakes, somehow the same as banana bread, and then a whole crate of mineral, and some more fried chicken. I have honestly never eaten that much food in my life. They taught us the Polynesian rock. When you are eating you rock back and forth and it moves the food down and it digests faster, and then you can eat like ten times more food. Well we did just that and the rest of the night I couldn't function. But it was so gooooodd!!

So Saturday night we made the rice crispies. Those were so good. We had like 7 missionaries over after the baptism on Saturday and we all ate them. The Africans really loved em. You did well, the b day package was pretty dang good! Thank you, thank you, thank you. It was the best birthday I have had in my life. Who would’a thought.

Oh yeah I almost forgot. Tomorrow we are having another mission conference and we get to hear from Joseph Satati or whatever his name is, the African member of the seventy from Kenya. It should be pretty bomb so I will probably be mentioning that in my email next week. Well everything is going along so great. I’m loving my area more and more and I really love teaching together with Elder Brown. My son is doing really well. I am so thankful for such a loving and caring family. You guys are the best. Even thousands of miles away you still come through. I love you! I love you! I love you! The church is true and I am so thankful for this opportunity to help the work go forward. Keep the commandments and love everyone around you.

Love you guys,

Elder Adams

Just for future reference.......
Things that would be very useful.
1. Index Cards
2. Short black ankle socks
3. A weighted speed training jump rope

That’s all I can think of.
That’s All :)

Monday, September 6, 2010

2010-09-25T14:03:00.000-07:00

Thank you thank you,
Thank you for all of the birthday wishes. Love you all. Well this week was a good one. We had our baptism and all went pretty well, except one of the candidates went to sea for fishing the day of the baptism so we will have to catch him next baptism. But we baptized and confirmed our 4 candidates and everything went really well. The only scary part was the husband to one of the women being baptized, he was like 5 feet tall 100 pounds and she was like 5 feet 7 in tall and weighed 300 pounds. He couldn't pull her up out of the water in his attempt to baptize her and she took a nice swim about 4 times before she was baptized. But none the less she was baptized and the baptism was a great success. We had 4 other companionships join our baptism. It was sweet. We are already preparing for our next baptism that will be on the 26th of Sept. |Well as you heard from the letter that you received in the mail the mission had a little pep talk on obedience. President was very serious and there is a lot of stupid disobedience going on right now. Lots of missionaries were watching movies and using ipods and stuff like crazy. It is really stupid the things that some of the missionaries do. But yeah president is really cracking down which is good because it would only continue to get worse if he didn't put a stop to it. This week we went on splits with the assistants which was a lot of fun because I got to go with Elder Hill who was my zone leader in the Cape Cost Zone for half of my mission. Oh and I am in the Yamoransa District which is the name of the town that I live in. But it was really fun because he speaks Fante fluently and it was really cool to listen and watch him teach in Fante. Makes me want to learn it bad. but It ain’t coming all that easy. Something that was really really crazy and sad happened the other night when I was sleeping at about 3 in the morning. I was awakened to a women beating her son right outside my window. She was either whipping him or smacking him super super hard, and she did it over and over for about 45 min straight and the kid just cried and screamed at the top of his lungs. The lady was cursing and yelling at him. I wanted to go and just put and end to it, but that’s not our business that we are supposed to do. But it was really hard to sit there and listen to it over and over. It was a serious beating. I didn't get any sleep that night. It is just really eye opening to see how pampered and how lucky we are to have the life we live. Thank you for that. I have been taking my doxy every night right before I go to sleep lately and I have had the craziest nightmares ever!!! Like one night I woke up and was just freaking out because I thought there was a bunch of Africans surrounding me with AK 47’s and they were like going to kill me and all this stuff. hahaha that doxy stuff does crazy crazy things. I was actually like sitting up and everything before I realized it was a dream. I thought you might get a kick out of that. It was actually pretty sweet. I started writing down my dreams right when I wake up because some of them are so funny and insane. And hopefully maybe I will have a few spiritual things that I can record too during my mission. Well, I got Whit's package this week, and I loved the shirt and tie. They were both so sweet. Elder Brown hates Utah so it is that much better. It was an awesome birthday package, you rock. I received Alex’s too. She hooked me up fat with all kinds of sweet stuff, so thanks to her too. She rocks. I haven't gotten the others yet but I’m sure they will come. Well Bro. Pratt and his wife are going to cook me dinner for my birthday, which I am looking forward to. They are cooking fried rice, chicken, fufu, banana bread, and all kinds of good stuff for me. I do have to go to the atm for the 1st time on my mission because I dropped 40 cedis just on my b day dinner. But it will be worth it :) I think you should go to PF Changs in Reno and then tell me if it is really as good as they say, because that might be the first place that I go when I get home. Just a heads up. I freakin love rice now! Well I love you all and thanks again for all that you have done for me in the 20 years that I have been alive. If I could I wouldn’t do it any other way. You are all the greatest family anyone could ask for and I love you all so much. The church is true and I know that it is what brings true happiness to our live. Keep the faith.

Love Elder Adams

2010-09-05T22:09:00.000-07:00

Elder Adams' birthday is Friday, Sept. 10th!!
Email or write him, I'm sure he would love to hear from you!

e-mail 8-30-10

2010-09-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

Mema Wo Ache,

Wow this week did go by really really fast. Well let's get straight to it. This week was a lot of busy work because we have a baptism coming up on Saturday where we are baptizing 5 of our investigators. This baptism should be sweet because we are baptizing another one of the brothers of the two twins who have gone on missions. So now all 4 brothers will be members. We were even working with their mother and she was progressing, until we found out that her husband has 4 wives. And we aren't supposed to encourage families to split even if they are polygamist. So there’s nothing we can really do there. There really isn't anything to spectacular to tell. This week was pretty routine, but it was still a good week. The highlight for me this week was my personal study time. I have been writing down President Holland’s talk that he gave to the mission the day before I entered the field. I was pretty mad that I didn't get to listen to him, so I have taken the recording from the conference that Elder Mackay took and I am putting the whole talk on paper. His talk is 32 pages long!! But it is 32 pages of genius and deep doctrine! I am almost finished with it and when I get done I'm going to be studying that thing papa! I have also been reading the Book of Mormon a lot and trying to memorize the passages of scripture that we use to teach with the most. I swear there is something wrong with my brain because the part that you use for memorization isn't working! haha it really just doesn't work. Something that came to mind pertaining to what you mentioned about your talk dad is this. President Sabey taught us one day that the law of consecration is something that hasn't been done away with, and it will always be around. Everyone who wants to can live the law of consecration for their whole life. Obviously tithing and fast offerings are among. But it can be as simple as sharing your sugar with your neighbor or anything like that. In everything we do we can live the law of consecration to its fullest if we want to. That's something I have learned on my mission. A while ago we decided that we would live it in our apartment. It's actually gone really well. Occasionally it gets a little out of hand when someone receives a package from home with all the best candy and foods, but it's all fun and games haha.

Like I mentioned last week the mission has also taken a big change. We now have Training meetings for all of the leadership positions that missionaries hold in the mission. The first one was this week. On Saturday President taught us a few things about callings and positions in the church. First he said that we are to never aspire for leadership positions in the church. It causes a lot of personal and other problems when we do. 2nd he taught us that we don't speculate in the church. We should never talk about who is going to become what and all of that because it also causes major problems, especially in the mission. President is afraid that now with these training meetings, the missionaries who aren't invited to attend because they are not holding a leadership position, will be offended and that the ones who are invited will think that they are better than everyone else. So that is why this 1st training meeting took place. President is a wise man.

Well that about sums up the week all right there. We just had a good week of good ole proselyting and teaching. Dad on a diet? That is sweet! The older you get the younger you feel, well isn't that nice. I hope that business begins to pick up and that those new products that you are getting are hot buyers. Mom sorry that your in school haha, I don't have to go to school for two years so you can just remember that every time you get sick of it! Miles why didn't you play football this year they are 3A you could have dominated? I haven't received any packages lately, but I’m sure that it is on it's way so no worries. I'm pretty excited for my birthday on my mission, were gunna have an African feast with lots of fufu and light soup! So good! I'm working on sending pictures home, I want to have 400 pictures, and right now I am at 370 so its coming soon. Sorry, I know I really suck at the picture thing. I am pretty stoked that Jeff is going to Atlanta, Georgia for his mission, that's the best news I have heard my whole mission!!!!

Well, I love you all so so much and I always look forward to hearing from you each week. You are the greatest. I will be looking forward to next week and hopefully you have some sweet things to share with me and me with you. Alright enough already. Love you.
Love Elder Adams

Baby named after me and Elder Mackay!

2010-08-24T21:28:00.000-07:00

Good Morning,
Well mom it sounds like you had a greatttttt week!! Mine was a little different it actually didn't "suck" it was actually really really sweet. We got to do a lot of stuff this week that we usually don't get to do very often. On Tuesday we had a way sweet Zone Conference. The Saunders and the Sabey’s had their families in town so at Zone Conference it was really cool to be able to hear from them and their different missions and all that. Then we had a sweet talk from President Sabey about free agency and the fall and the atonement. Man does that guy know some deep stuff. He taught us some deep doctrine and we had a sweet discussion. I thought you might like this. He even told us about how to be good parents and he named three different categories that parents fall under. He said there is the "Drill Sergeant, the Helicopter, and the Consultant". The drill sergeant is the parent who makes the kid do it his way and no other way, or else be punished. The Helicopter is the parent who hovers over the kid until he makes a mistake and then swoops down and fixes everything, and then goes right back to hovering over the kid waiting for him to mess up again. And the consultant is the one who teaches the kid and explains to him the consequences of our actions and what might happen, and then lets the kid have is free agency to make the right decision and learn. He said that the consultant is the one he wants us to be. Which one are you????? Haha

So zone conference was sweet. Wednesday we found out that they are starting the construction on the new chapel in Moree and that we could be of some help by clearing the land with the ward. I can't even begin to tell you the excitement in the Moree ward right now over getting a new chapel. It will be the nicest building in Moree, and the members were asked to help build it so many of them and some of our investigators will be getting jobs and stuff which is sweet. It will take only 5 months to complete and they will be working 24/6. So Wednesday we went on splits with the new ZL that we just got in Cape Coast from Kumasi and we went and cut down weeds with our cutlasses (sword or knife like a machete) for a few hours. I played some golf with a rusty rake and they helped in causing some blisters. Then the next day we went back and did it again and chopped the crap out of a tree with the cutlasses. By the end of Thursday I had so many blisters on my hands it was ridiculous. I counted like 10. But it was a lot of fun. It was nice to have a break from proselyting. Then on Saturday they had this huge Africa service project day where we went with our wards to hospitals and cleaned up the yards and painted and that kind of thing. We even got to wear the Mormon Helping Hands jerseys that they gave out. It was pretty sweet. Thank goodness for the weekend it gave my hands some time to heal. I need to work on getting African hands and not whimpey white people hands.

Kobe and Georgina had a baby and they named it Mackay Adams Abakah. Thought that was pretty sweet. I might even be asked to bless him in church. It’s so sweet to see our new investigators doing well. Well that about sums up the week. We are having a baptism on the 4th of Sept and there will be 5 people being baptized and we are planning to have even more than that in the near future which should be sweet. Everything is going strong. Elder Brown is doing well. He even scored his first goal in soccer today and we won the tournament so he is sitting high on the mountain right now, might take him a while to come down haha. We are getting along great he is a sweet dude. Oh I almost forgot they are starting a new training thing world wide in the missionary work where anyone who is in a leadership position gets to go to these training meetings all the time. But interviews and ZC have been moved to only every 13 weeks now. So we will see how that change goes. I didn’t have much time to study this week with all these crazy things going on so this is all that I came up with this morning for your talk. Pres Heber J Grant. "if the people will pay their tithes and offerings they will not only be blessed in their material affairs but they will be abundantly blessed with increased outpouring of the spirit of the Lord" This is part of the promise the Lord made through his servant Malachi. The Lord will not only open the windows of heaven and pour down spiritual blessings, but he will also preserve our fruits and vegetables, the labor of our hands, from destruction as well. Malachi 3: 8-12 Concerning our fast offerings, President Marion G Romney said "one of the most important things the Lord has told us to do is to be liberal in our payments of fast offerings. I would like you to know that there are great rewards for doing so- both spiritual and temporal. The Lord says that the efficacy of our prayers depends upon our liberality to the poor". Elder Adams "put yourself in the position of those that are in great need of fast offerings. Think about how fast offerings would affect you and your family if you were in that kind of a situation, and if that doesn’t help you pay a generous fast offering and all that you can pay then something is wrong, and you need to take a step back and look at yourself in the mirror" that’s my own personal advice. That’s all I got so maybe you can use something there. Anyway that is all for this week. I love you all so much and can’t wait to hear back from you again next week. Take care and help the work move forward. I pray for you all everyday and love you more than you know.

Love Elder Adams

e-mail 8-16-10

2010-08-24T21:27:00.000-07:00

Adams Family,
Well this sucks! I just typed a whole email and when i was going to send it the thing was erased! So now I don’t have very much time to email, so this weeks email will be short. Sorry

Well this week was a good week. We had some good lessons with our investigators. We taught Francis Mensah about baptism and he didn't agree at all with infant baptism and a few other things. He is a very smart man and uses his own intelligence rather than looking to God for answers so things are going to take a long time with him. I read a talk this week by Orson F. Whitney titled Built Upon The Rock. In his talk he explains how Christ’s church is different than ever other church under the sun because Christ’s church runs directly off of revelation from Jesus Christ himself. If the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints does something it is because Christ himself has so commanded. It talks a lot about how we don't do things today because the Jews were commanded to do it in the bible, but we do things because it has been revealed through a prophet. You should look up the talk it is sweet. Anyway I told that all to Francis in one form or another and told him that it will be impossible to accept these things unless he receives his answer through prayer. The human mind can't determine truth, but God can through heart felt prayer. He then told us that he had decided to be an investigator of the church until Dec 2011 haha. He's a character. We had another investigator named Erick Gordon who had an answer to his prayers through, what else, a dream. He had a dream that he was in a pool of water or a big tub thing, which of course I interpreted to be a baptismal font. Then he had another dream that he was standing in our church service a member of the church. He wanted me to interpret it for him, so of course we used it to our advantage and told him that he has been told he needs to be baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. So he will be baptized in the next three weeks. He is a real humble dude.

Now church yesterday was very interesting. We had 9 investigators at church which was sweet. But the funniest thing happened. I sat next to someone from the stake in church and observed him while he was taking notes about the Moree Ward. He made a few notes about the ward on his paper of things that we needed to improve on, and some other notes, but nothing serious. Then the craziest woman in our ward, like she is insane in the head, got up at the end of sacrament to give the closing prayer. Her prayer lasted like 8 minutes long and that is not an exaggeration. And she was shouting at the top of her lungs. Think of all those crazy churches that think they speak in tongues and they just stand there and shout as loud as they can while praying so that everyone can hear them. That is exactly what she did. It was so bad. All of Moree could hear. Then after about 5 min in the whole ward started laughing, including me I couldn’t help it. Then I looked at the stake rep and he just shook his head and walked out, haha. It was bad, but it was hillarious. Bishop Otoo was so mad!
Well anyway the week was a good one, but nothing real special other than that I feel impressed to share. Thanks for all the emails every week it is nice to hear how everything is going back home. Everyone is busy and only getting busier. I love you and remember you in my prayers many times a day. Thanks for all the advice and support. Take care until next week and I can’t wait to hear from you again.
Love Elder Adams
ps. I am working on some photos to send home but I am using Elder Browns camera so it will take small time. I will send photos in a few weeks.

I messed up last weeks blog by posting twice and leaving one out, this has a great story at the end. "We are the Lord's hands"

2010-08-10T22:15:00.001-07:00

Family,
Well another week has come and passed. The days feel like weeks, but the weeks feel like days. And they just keep flying bye. I'm actually starting to sense already that I am not going to be able to study everything that I want to on my mission. I am not going to be able to do all that I want to do on my mission. I have plans to read all kinds of things (like the standard works), but with how fast time is going bye I’m not even going to be able to cover half of what I wanted. But that’s okay. I have the rest of eternity. I can become what I want to become, and ill just focus on that. Well things are back to the way they were a few weeks ago. Elder Keller has a new companion, Elder Wiah. He is a way cool guy from Liberia. He is like 6 foot 4 and like the most kind soft spoken giant person I’ve ever met. He is a very good missionary so I am excited to be living with him. I am teaching him "our language". Every morning he says to me "good morning bro" in his deep African voice. Its funny. So he is fitting in nicely.

This week was a really good week for teaching. We have 4 people right now with baptismal dates and maybe 4 or 5 that could be having one very soon. We are planning to have a baptism in like 5 weeks and hope to have about 8 candidates. Our teaching pool is really sweet right now. The reason why it takes a long time to be able to baptize people in Moree and just have a good teaching pool is because about 50% of the people we teach can’t read. And that makes it really hard for them to gain a very strong testimony. We have to base our judgment more off of them coming to church for a long time and then how well they are keeping the commandments and commitments we give them. Oh and that little thing called the spirit. It helps. That is probably one of the things I have noticed is the most difficult to deal with in a village. It takes so much longer for someone to gain a testimony when they can’t read. Teaching people that can read and speak good English is the sweetest thing I have ever experienced. But I would take humble people willing to listen any day, even if it takes a little longer to teach. So glad to be in Ghana.

However, our prayers have been answered. This week we taught a man who spoke amazing English, in fact he is a teacher. He is very intelligent, and he doesn’t like to mess around. Which is sweet for a missionary. We taught him all of lesson one in depth and covered a lot of small detail that we aren’t able to teach are other investigators. Like how the number 7 is symbolic. Throughout the lesson he was watching every movement we made, every comment we said, and everything we taught very carefully. I even noticed a few times where he was trying to trick us. He would ask questions like how tolerant are you of other faiths? Just a lot of stuff like that that we never get in any of are other lessons. It was the most fun enjoyable lesson I’ve ever taught. It is just so sweet to be able to teach people that can have a huge impact on a ward the day they get baptized. And use the church vocabulary I am used to. It was a sweet lesson. By the end he said that he actually loved what we had taught him and that he was very impressed with how well we presented ourselves and the message we carry. He opened up at the end of the lesson and straight up told us that he was trying to stump us, but that now we have his trust. We are going to teach him tomorrow, and he has a DVD player so we are going to watch the Joseph Smith film. I don’t know if I am more excited to teach him, or to just watch a movie for the first time in months! Anyway I am very optimistic about Francis Mensah (hint: that's his name). And boy am I glad that I didn’t slip up in the lesson, because that would have been the end.

We taught another man this week that is a member referral named Ishmael Nkumah. He is also a very smart person who would be a future leader. It is actually really funny why he wants to be a member. He told us that he wants to be a member so that he can be like us and serve a mission. That’s the only thing he saw that interested him in the church right away. He also came to church two weeks ago. We are going to take him proselyting with us this week and have him be are ward missionary and translate for us. So he will be getting taught the lessons while he is teaching other people also, which will be freakin awesome. We will definitely be teaching him on his own, but this will be cool for him to actually get a taste of what it is he wants to do for two years of his life. I guess it’s not a guarantee we haven’t asked him to proselyte yet, but I’m sure he will accept. So anyway the Lord is really blessing us with people who gain a strong testimony fast and will hopefully help out the Moree ward in the future. Our area is doing well.

So one last story I want to throw in before I wrap things up happened yesterday while we were proselyting. We were walking along a dirt road on our way to our next appointment after church, and then it started to rain really hard. So we stopped and waited for sometime underneath the overhang of the nearest building. While we were waiting for the rain to stop a little 5 year old girl was running down the road, on her way home I presume. While she was running she slipped on some mud and took a hard fall right on her face. She laid in the middle of the street crying. There were a lot of people nearby but nobody would stop to help her. It was as if they didn’t see her. I couldn’t just stand there and watch this little girl laying in the street scratched up and crying, so I ran over to where she was and picked her up in my arms and carried her over to the building we were sitting under. I washed her face off with my tie (the one Cody gave me) and then wiped off the rest of her body the best I could. She was still bawlling. I talked to her small in Fante and after a while I was able to cheer her up. I got her to smile and talk a little. When she was smiling again and happy we sent her on her way and continued on. Afterward my tie was covered in thick muddy clay and my shirt was completely covered in mud from top to bottom from carrying her in my arms. The was no white to be found. But I couldn’t have been happier. The only reason I am telling you this is because of the feeling that came to me afterward. I had never felt more in my entire life what it really meant when they say; "We are the Lord’s hands" "We are his servants" "We represent the Savior and do what he would do". I have never felt closer to the Savior. It was a simple and small act of kindness. But I was the Lord’s hands and I was doing what he would have done. I tell you this because we need to always be on the look out for those that are struggling, not only physically, but this because it will bless your life for helping more than it will bless the one in need. I have never been happier in my entire life and felt more joy than what I experienced after helping this little girl.

I have really been getting to know Elder Brown the past few weeks, and the more that I get to know him the more I like him and respect him. He is really really really smart. Which is good for me because I somehow lack in that area haha. He knows a lot about a lot of things, and he is teaching me a lot about like world governments, countries, and just random crap. Don’t worry the gospel too. But it’s really sweet. He already speaks Fante 5 times better than I do, which actually makes me really, really bitter. But I guess that’s what happens when I don’t study it at all haha. Well I guess to sum things up for the week everything is going as good as I could ask for, and the Lord continues to bless us more and more. I have noticed that my emails aren’t very interesting anymore and that I keep writing about the same thing from week to week, so I am trying to add a few new things and spice up these emails a bit.

So it sounds like you are pretty busy Miles? You have grasped the concept of real work it sounds like. What a blessing that will be cuz it’s never going to get easier, but it does get better. And that’s a promise. Whit and Cody sounds to me like you are doing well. I hope that work is doing well. Mom and Dad and Miles it sucks for you that school is starting again hahah. But not for me. Tristin and Derek and Raegan I hope you’re doing well? Sounds like everyone is loving golf and enjoying life. I swear you guys play to much golf now! I’m jealous. I took a few pictures with the jerkey and stuff. I don’t know if they will be good enough, but we still have a few pieces left so we’ll try and get some more sweet pics.

I am grateful for such a great family. I can’t tell you how many times a have thought about why I was so blessed to be a part of this family. I have pondered more about that than anything else on my mission. I don’t know why, but I sure am grateful. I love you all so much and thank God everyday for how merciful he has been to me and to our family. I know that the church is true and that it is the reason why our family is so amazing. We truly are blessed to have the gospel in our lives. Continue to stand strong in all that you do, and remember always, “ remember who you are!!” It will carry you a long way. Much love. Talk to you next week.

Love Elder Adams

Email 8-2-10

2010-08-10T22:13:00.000-07:00

Hello Everybody,
Well this week was a sweet sweet week. More so because we had a lot of fun. Just so you know I can’t tell really how good the testimonies are here is Ghana cuz they are all in Fante and I still can’t understand very much. Sometimes I will catch a few things here and there. For the most part I think they are pretty good though they keep them nice and simple. Well this week we had a lot of stuff happen that never really happens. At district meeting the Saunders came to ours and they brought us cake and ice cream which was amazing. Problem was that it destroyed my stomach. Oh and last Friday we went to this place that we found that makes burgers, and they taste better than an American burger, I think just cuz I haven’t had one in so long, so we are going there again today to celebrate my 6 months. They are really expensive, but that 20 dollar bill that I received in my package the other day will go to great use haha. Thanks. I went on spilts again a few times this past week with Elder Keller. He is a funny dude. We got one of our investigators who we have only been teaching for a few weeks to commit to be baptized already after only teaching him for a little more than a week. His wife died about 2 days before we taught him and he has fully accepted everything we have taught him so far. The rest of the week up to Saturday was pretty normal proselyting. We had some good lessons. Saturday was sweet because in the morning instead of going prosleyting we went and played football as a zone against some legit football team that had matching uniforms and the whole deal. It was so fun. But we did get our butts kicked and we lost like 5 to 1 or something like that. At half it was tied, but that didn’t last long. After that we got changed and then had interviews with President a few hours later. Interviews this time around were really sweet. Me and President just talked a lot about like the temple and the temple trip coming up, and about training Elder Brown. It was a very uplifting interview. When we returned later that night though there was something that happened which I don’t know and President came to our apartment and Elder Chesa is now being transferred to Kumasi (4 hours away) and now me and Elder Brown and Elder Keller are in a threesome. So far things are going fine, but I think that Elder Keller gets a new companion today so we don’t have to be in a threesome any longer which will be way sweet. Sunday after church we had a lot of people that we wanted to meet with. So I went with our ward mission leader proselyting, Elder Brown went with another ward missionary, and Elder Keller another. So we had three companionships total in Moree at the same time. We did straight work. It was sweet and two of the boys already have their mission calls so we were able to teach them each a few pointers throughout the day. It was a lot of fun. Elder Brown is doing really well. He knows the area already and has no problem teaching the whole lesson. He is a lot farther along than I ever was at this point. I don’t even feel like I am training him any more he already knows everything I do, so now it is just like a normal companionship. The kid is a stud. I taught one guy on Sunday that I didn’t think was all that serious, but turned out that I was completely wrong. He went on to say at the end of the lesson that he had been to like 8 different churches in Moree and that he had stopped going to all of them because he knew that they were all wrong. And then he said that he hoped he can find something in our church. So the next few weeks are going to be flippin sweet and we are going to give this guy everything that he has ever wanted. He just fell right into our hands, and he is already progressing. I am pretty excited. We will be having a baptism here very soon. We could have some way sweet people, but we still have a lot of work to do with some of them. So we will see, but I’m looking forward to it.
So the week was really good, and a lot of fun. The package was really sweet and thanks a lot for the cereal we really enjoyed. That stuff was good. We are still thinking of some ways that we can take some sweet pictures with the jerky and stuff, so maybe next week we will have some sweet pics for that. It sounds like everything back home is going sweet. Miles you have a real job? That’s sweet, but I just don’t see you and Hadley getting a whole lot done haha. Sounds like you are playing some freakin good golf right now that is sweet. Sounds like fishing was sweet in Lake Tahoe Dad. We are still going to Christmas Island when I get home right? haha. Sounds like you’re having a good time. I’m glad to hear that you guys are taking care of Buck. He really is one of my favorites. That’s good. Well sounds like you guys are all doing great. I didn’t have much to share this week from sweet experiences, but I’m still loving every second of being out here. This place is so awesome and the people are so sweet. I have learned more in these last 6 months than I have my whole life. Keep giving me advice and know that I love you all very much. This is the only true church, the only way back, so live the gospel better every day than the day before, and it will all work out. I love you all. Stay strong!!!!!!!!!
Love Elder Adams

ps. for my birthday get creative. :)