Happy Halloween!

Hermana Adams and Hermana Valdivia

Hola!

This week has been so awesome! We broke Sister Valdivia's record for new investigators found – we found 14 new investigators! I feel like part of my personality is coming back with Sister Valdivia because she is so much fun. She reminds me a lot of Lysje – so you can only imagine! We have been a lot more dedicated and focused lately – it is so great! I don't want to leave Lamar or Sister Valdivia. Nothing new is happening with the Sarmientos. Our investigators right now that are really progressing are Angela, Courtney, and Linda.

A funny thing happened – a less-active in our ward sent us a text that said, "For some reason, I am worried about both of you! Be very careful today while you are out and about okay!?" That is always comforting to hear, right? I love Sister Zeaman! Sister Valdivia and I cracked up about this text and now we are being careful – so no worries!

I'm becoming a true cowgirl out here in Lamar! Megan and Shanae (investigator and less-active) are students at the College for Rodeo and they taught us how to rope a heffer. It is harder than it looks and I looked pretty ridiculous while trying to figure it out.

This week we taught Angela about the Word of Wisdom and it went very well! Her daughter was there with us when we were talking to her about her cigarettes. We promised that she would receive help and we knew that she could quit smoking. Her daughter turned to her and said, "Mom – I know that you can do it." Sister Valdivia and I melted when she said this because the Spirit was so strong! She is on the road to baptism – whoot, whoot! After our lesson, she taught us how to make homemade tortillas and they were so good – lard and all!

We had exchanges this week here in Lamar (both STL's came to Lamar because we are so far away). Sister Judy and I came home for dinner and realized that we didn't have a key to the house and the other Sisters were in one of the outer towns. So what did we do – we broke in! We took out the screen on our front window – and as we were trying to push the window up – it just fell off. We got in pretty fast but it is not too comforting knowing that our house is so easy to break into. Sister Judy and I were dying of laughter!

"All you need is a little faith and trust – and a little bit of Pixie Dust!"

Misionera Amor!
Siempre Una Aventura
Hermana Adams

Welcome to Lamar - Sister Valdivia!

Hola!

The first week with Sister Valdivia was amazing and I know that this transfer is going to be awesome! Now I get to see how it really is to fully consecrate myself to the work. After exchanges this week – we were determined to still reach our standard goals – and so we worked hard and about doubled it in 4 days! We were able to get 4 new investigators in the first hour that we worked together. We didn't have any team-ups lined up yet we managed to get 7 member referrals. We had 2 of our investigators show up to church when we didn't know if anyone would show up. Angela actually showed up 40 minutes early! We taught 30 other lessons in 4 days – it was a miracle! We had so many miracles this week – it was such a faith builder. We just relied on the Lord and he provided the way. Lamar is growing in missionary work and I love it!

Sister Valdivia is seriously an awesome missionary and we have had so much fun this week! She was born in Mexico but moved to the U.S. when she was really little. She looks and talks just like Rachel Ray and she is gorgeous! I have used a whole lot more Spanish this week and I've learned a lot from her since she can correct me now.

Some fun things we did this week:

We gave Jake (dog) a bath this week because he smelled so bad! Sister Eirhart (a less-active) had knee surgery and hasn't been able to bathe him in a while. He reminded me so much of Bear except that Jake actually enjoyed the water and Bear hates it!

We got our palms read by some random guy that we talked to while visiting a less-active. It was pretty sweet and creepy at the same time. He told us that we were both good witches that had good powers. So, we told him that those powers were the Holy Ghost and that we received it when we were 8 years old. He said some other random stuff – but one thing that I remember is that he said that I am very close with my mom. I told him, "heck yeah – she's my best friend!"

Kassidy (a cute member girl that goes to LCC) got engaged this weekend! So, of course, Sister Valdivia and I went and stalked her getting engaged. We helped Abby and the fiancé set up lights at a gazebo in town so we knew when and where it was going to take place. Abby is their photographer so she took all of their professional pictures and we were her sidekicks. Anyways – later that night – we hid behind a tree and recorded the whole thing. It was so cute and they are the cutest couple ever! Then, her fiancé sang "I Stand All Amazed" in Spanish in Sacrament on Sunday and it was so awesome.

Scripture of the Week – Psalm 37:4
"Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

Misionera Amor!
Siempre Una Aventura
Hermana Adams

Training Has Come To An End!

Hola!

Last Sunday our district made a song for the Kansas, Wichita Mission CD – boo yeah! I actually sang a song! Weird – but it was pretty sweet! Elder Liechty is really good at making music so he wrote the lyrics and Sister Moser wrote the chorus. When it comes out, I will send it home so ya'll can listen to it.

We went on exchanges this week with the STL's and loved it! I went with Sister Runia and she is one of the best missionaries that I have ever seen. She goes home this week so I was so glad to go out with her before she left. We saw so many miracles on exchanges – we were able to put Jesus on date and he has never accepted a date before with Sister Moser and me. Then, we went running in the morning and it felt so good to run!

Our miracle this week happened when we were at Linda’s (new investigator) house. This was our first real lesson with her and we were starting to teach her about the Restoration. Before we even talked about Joseph Smith, she stopped us and asked us one question, "my mother died – can you tell me where she is?" We loved the question! We switched right over to the Plan of Salvation and told her where her mom was and that she will be able to see her again someday. She began to tear up and said that she knew what we said was true. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted! She is on date for November 1st. Love her! Milagros!

I had my first quarterly interview with the President. It lasted about 3 minutes because there were a lot of missionaries waiting to talk to him. He is an awesome guy and he is so great! His wife is amazing, too! She is the cutest little thing you'll ever meet.

Lamar Garbage Day

Sniff hard and you can probably smell us!

We did service for Lamar Garbage Day. It happens twice a year – people put garbage that they don't want on the curb and volunteers go around and put it in a truck. This is the first time I have worn jeans on my mission! We had these pretty sweet bright orange vests as well so we looked pretty legit. We had two softball girls from the college with us in the truck and we all stunk! I swear one of the bags that we picked up had a dead skunk in it because it smelled terrible. Sister Moser had to wash off with ketchup because you could still smell it on her!

Transfers! I am staying in Lamar – boo yeah! My new companion is Sister Valdevia! I have not met her but I heard that she is super amazing and nice. She is a Spanish native so she will be able to help me with my Spanish! 

Misionera Amor!
Siempre Una Aventura
Hermana Adams

Conference! Woot, Woot!!

Hola!

We were at Sister Eirhart's house (less-active) and she was in a lot of pain because she had fallen the day before when she was taking her dog out to the bathroom. She also had a knee replacement a couple weeks prior which added to the pain. Her fall caused her to pull a lot of things in her knee (i.e., LCL, MCL, and ACL). Ouch! She is basically stuck on the couch because she can't do much walking with her knees like that. We asked her if she would like a blessing from the Elders – and she agreed – so we asked the Elders to come over. The Elders came promptly and Elder Liechty gave her a beautiful blessing. After the blessing, she stood up with ease and had a huge smile on her face. She said that most of the pain had gone away and that she has not been able to stand up that swiftly since before her surgery. What a blessing! The priesthood is real and it does perform miracles.

Sister Simons – another less-active in our ward – gave this hilarious prayer...

Bless this food, and bless this meat.

Thank you Lord, now can we eat?

She has quite the sense of humor and we all couldn't help but laugh. She has a strong testimony – but being seriously ill – has kept her from attending Sacrament meeting. We were able to go over to her house and watch General Conference with her husband and the Elders. Brother Simons is so sweet – he had snacks for us and made us lunch after both of the morning sessions. I love that family! They were both baptized about 5 years ago and have been sealed in the temple for time and eternity.

Some favorite quotes from Conference:

• "The guilty take the truth to be hard." – Lynn G. Robbins
• "The Gospel of Jesus Christ opens the path to who we can become." – D. Todd Christofferson

Conference was amazing! There were so many amazing talks and the Spirit was so strong. Love it!

We had Zone training this week and were able to watch the new film "Meet the Mormons." Love it! It was so good and it is coming to theaters pretty soon. I am pretty sure that all of the missionaries cried during the last part of the movie because it was so good.

Misionera Amor!
Siempre Una Aventura
Hermana Adams