January 16, 2016 - Magnifying Callings

Hey Fam,

Hey everyone I hope all is well and not much is happening haha. Well this week I really had some experiences that changed my view on a few things.

The first thing that I realized and hit me was something that Elder Bailey told me would happen but I just didnt know when. After we had a little bit of time together he asked me if i felt like a missionary, or if I just felt like a tag a long. He wanted me to feel good about being a missionary and have a positive training. At that point I honestly felt like a tag a long because i wasnt too comfortable with the language and also, if you know me well enough, im not a super outgoing person. He promised me that there would be a day in my training that it would change and i would really feel like i was contributing to the lessons and helping these people come unto Christ. Well I had that experience going into this week. I finally feel comfortable just talking in spanish and not worrying about if i make a mistake. 

The other thing i would like to share is about magnifying our callings.I told Kade this past PDay that I would study for him about the Priesthood because he is preparing to take this step and recieve this amazing gift and blessing in his life. So on thursday i was sh and covenant of the Priesthood, and how weit made me think about whenay, we had a perfect example of a calling, or a soon to be calling, being magnified. Hermano Juan came out with us for  the whole day again. Not only did h busy lives so ill wrap it up. I love you all more then you can imagine. I hope you can all see how important it is to always magnify our callings and be tools in the hands of our Heavenly Father. 

I love you all and I pray for you all every night. Im happy, healthy, enjoying every minute, and doing everything that I can to magnify my calling. Much love from down here in El Salvador! 

Love, Elder Adams Jr.

How we mow the lawn here in El Salvador

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Happy Birthday to Lex and Bry

Just chillin with the man after pounding a ton of food

January 9, 2016 - Hello America!

Hello America, 

Hey all hows it going on the other side of the wqorld. Just kidding im only a 4 hour flight away but luckily i have a lot longer and i dont have to think about that any time soon. so this week was awesome. i didnt really think about what i was going to write so this will probably be a little more all over the place then it usually is but bear with me. And i want to say sorry for my English it definatly isnt getting any better down here. 

So this week was sweet. At the end of last week elder Bailey and i found a new area that is huge that no one has ever contacted or taught. its a gold mine and we are living it up in there. We spend at least half of the dfay in this new area contacting and finding the people that our Heavenly father has prepared for us in there. So this week we have seen a lot more success because we have found this area and we are being blessed so much. For some reason who knows why i keep finding scriptures that say that all of our success is blessings that are coming from our Heavenly Father. I have not forgotten who is blessing me every day and i am trying my hardest to be as humble as possible and show my gratitude. 

So this week Hermano Juan who we baptized just over a month ago came with us all day. he came to all of our lessons and even though he didnt feel comfortable enough to say much, the little things he did say were so powerful and i felt the spirit so much. He has an awesome story of the blessings that he has seen since he has been baptized. So he is a chef (he cooks us lunh every day) and he has been trying to grow his business because he just seel food out of his house. the one thing that he really needed to help him grow was a bigger refridgerator because he had a little half size one and that cant hold like any food. after he was baptized he really started praying for the money and means to get this fridge to grow his business. out of the blue his aunt called him saying that they bought a fridge like 3 months ago and it is pretty much perfect but for some reason the bought another and wanted to know if he wanted it. he testified to us and and to a lot of our investigators of the blessings that you recieve from being baptized and the power of prayer. 

i know blessings come in random ways but they do come! i know that I am being blessed every day and i am beyond grateful. i hope and challenge each and everyone of you to really count your blessings and try to recognize them as they come. I love you all and I always pray for you guys. 

-Elder Adams Jr

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to lex and bry you guys are the best and yçi love you both so much. Thank you both for being a great example on me and i know if it wasnt for you 2 and the rest of you guys i wouldnt be out here. much love!!!! you guys are getting old jeez

The New Backpack

The New Backpack

How people celebrate the holidays here. Each one of those are like the size of a burrito

Just some cows walking up the street

Elder Juan Castillo after a long day of working 

January 2, 2016 - Pioneers

Hola, 

Hey everyone soerry this week is going to be a little short because the internet here isnt working too well but.. this week i have been studying the restoration a lot and reading in Our Heritage there is a story in the book that i want to share because its so awesome. it is about a brother named Philo Bibble. he was shot by the mob in the Battle of the Big Blue 3 times in the stomach and was about to die from the loss of blood. in his words he says. "Brother Newel Knight came to see me, and sat down on the side of my bed... I felt the Spirit resting upon me at the crown of my head before his hand touched me, and i knew immediately that i was going to be healed... I immediately arose and discharged three quarts of blood or more, wirth some pieces of clothes that had been driven into my body by the bullets. I then dressed myself and went outdoors... From that time not a droop of blood came from me and i never afterwards felt the slightest pain or inconvienience from my wounds, except that I was somewhat weak from the loss of blood." 

WOW just WOW that is the power of the priesthood working miracles right there. im so glad that i have been born at this time and i am so thankful for the pioneers that endured so much. Im doing good here, healthy, happy, and loving why im here thank you all for the love and support ill try to send pictures next week i cant this week. 

sometimes in El Salvador the internet isnt quite as goood as the states haha well i love you all and thank you all for the love on Christmas. thank you all who wrote me and sent some love. youre the best! 

i send up my love and prayers for all of you every day. 

-Elder Adams Jr.

December 26, 2016 - La Primera Navidad

So i know i just talked to you yesterday but ill still send a little note. 

ill just tell you what christmas is like here because i only have one left. so everyone really celebrates the 24th here. they celebrate by eating a ton of food and blowing stuff up. on the 24th we had 4 diunners in a row. it was painful but you cant say no. we started off the day with lunch and we didnt stop eating. one family literally gave us 2 full meals. we ate taught a lesson and like 30 minutes later ate again... full meals. well the night is really when everyone goes crazy. we had to be home 30 minutes early and i totally know why haha. there was fireworks going off all night and at midnight everyone goes crazy. im suprised that it didnt wake me up i slept right through it. 

So thats the tradition here party super hard and at midnight go crazy. it was kind of funny on sunday the next day we had church with 2 wards combined. the attendance was under what it normally is for 1 ward. on christmas day everyone just sleeps all day and recovers to do the same thing the next week on the 31st. so thats a little taste of christmas here. 

We did have a ward party and Santa was even there!!!! the little spiritual experience for the week was how i really got to think about the true meaning of christmas. i always would try to at home but this year i had no distractions. only thinking about our lord and savior Jesus Christ. i encourage all of you to always try to think about the real meaning and not always on the gifts and the other aspects of christmas. i know they are awesome but i know you will get more out of christmas if you really think about the meaning. 

Sorry it was a short one but i just talked to you guys yesterday and to the people that i didnt... sorry i don't have much to say. merry christmas all thank you all for being so supportive and loving. you are all very important to me and i pray for all of you every day. I love this work a little more every day i have learned to love my Savior more this christmas season. i will be eternally grateful for that ands all the time ive had to study the words of our Heavenly Father, the scriptures. i know this church is true and i'm here to share this happiness. 

Love you all.

-Elder Adams Jr.

Ward Christmas Party with our best investigator Salvador. He even brought his grandkids and he is trying to get permission from their mom so we can teach them too!

Last time the district was all together. We said goodbye to the best district leader ever...Elder Stout... He is returning with honor!

Christmas morning with Chef Adams. We made as close to Chocolate chip banana pancakes as we could. Chopped Hersheys bar and plantains.

SANTA!!!!!!!

December 19, 2016 - No Parasites!

Hey All,

So this week was a bit of a struggle for Elder Bailey and I. So last monday when i wrote i started to feel a little pain in my stomach. i didnt think much of it and that day i just took it a bit easy. then next morning i woke up and i had a super upset stomach and ill just say i was in the bathroom a lot that day. we went and got tested for parasites. turns out i dont have any!!!! but i do have a stomach infection. not to worry im on antibiotics and im feeling a ton better. Elder Bailey on the other hand has been dying all week. We gave eachother blessings and i know we will overcome this. so this week was super hard to work because we had to take 2 days off (a bummer) and when we got to work we had to take breaks every once and a while. we still worked our hardest. 

well theres one night that i want to talk about that i learned so much from. we had had literally no success the whole day and i was starting to get bummed out and discouraged. i said a little prayer in my head to have a little boost of energy to be able to finish out the night and just get home safely. right after that a scripture popped into my head out of nowhere. i know it was an answer to my prayer. the scripture was alma 26:27 and it says "Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us and said: Go amongst thy bretheren, the Lamanites, and bear thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success." 

from that i took the worst approach and was like well where is my success. i didnt think to thank our Heavenly Father for this comfort that i got. well the night went on and it wasnt successful at all. in our last lesson that totally changed. we had a lesson with an investigator and there were 2 other people in the house. a roomate who was like 65 years old and a 14 year old friend. this investigator is like 25 so we got a range haha. well we went on to teach the message of the restoration of the gospel and we said that they had to pray to know that this was true. the older guy was like oh i already did. with the language barrier and other people talking elder bailey and i both heard it but didnt think anything of it and continued on. 

we finished up the lesson and invited them both (the 2 that we had not taught before) to baptism. we asked the old guy first and he was like no ask the other kid first. we thought this was a bad sign because he was making a teenager go before him. we thought he was just going to go on about how he had already been baptized and didnt want to have to do anything with us (happens alot). the 14 year old said that he would be baptized, sweet one now the other. we went back to the older guy and he was like oh im a member. my whole family is members and i know this church is true. 

he then went on to bear his testimony which was beyond powerful to the other 2 in the room. he said that he knew with his whole heart that this is the only true church and that Joseph smith was a prophet of God. that lesson was literally the most supprising and successful lesson we have ever had. Heavenly Father put this blessing in our lives and in that night on purpose. i know it was a blessing after we were about to turn back. so thats just the spitirual moment for the week. 

our investigators are all progressing good, just hard to get them to church. we are working with them every day and they are progressing. im feeling a lot better and i hope this next week we can continue to have these blessings put in our paths. I pray for all of you and hope you know that i love all of you sepecially in this Christmas season. 

Love ya all. talk to you soon

-Elder Adams Jr.

PS happy birthday to the best mother ever the 22nd. shes the best and you all need to wish her a happy birthday. Mom i love you!

Just being tourists in Salvador Del Mundo

Smoking is suicide. Please suicide yourself in another place.

When it rains, it rains

The Altavista district or the Baptizing district

Just a lady holding a chicken in a bag on a crowed bus. I thought it was awesome and risked my life and camera for this pic. hahaha

December 12, 2016 - 4 for 4

Hey All,

Sorry i dont have a ton of time today, believe it or not the internet in El Salvador is pretty slow. So this week was awesome. We had another baptism, and i got to actually get in the water haha. Her name is Nohemy, she's the wife of Juan who we baptized last week. shes i awesome and has a solid testimony. durring the baptism i got really nervous about saying everything correct and doing it right the first time. well it didnt happen haha. her foot popped up so i had to go round 2. 2nd time was the charm. After the baptism that feeling of uneasiness went away and it was all peace. it was an awesome feeling. one thing that i really want to share this week is from a letter i got last week. I got a quote from an awesome church leader that really helped me. so some background we had a really hard day. no one seemed to be home and no one would talk to us. that night i was a little down and i read this quote and it helped a ton it was definitely a blessing.

 “My dear brethren, my dear friends, there will be times when you think you cannot continue on. Trust the Savior and His love. With faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the power and hope of the restored gospel, you will be able to walk tall and continue on.

Brethren, we love you. We pray for you. I wish you could hear President Monson pray for you. Whether you are a young father, an elderly priesthood bearer, or a newly ordained deacon, we are mindful of you. The Lord is mindful of you!

We acknowledge that your path will at times be difficult. But I give you this promise in the name of the Lord: rise up and follow in the footsteps of our Redeemer and Savior, and one day you will look back and be filled with eternal gratitude that you chose to trust the Atonement and its power to lift you up and give you strength.

My dear friends and brethren, no matter how many times you have slipped or fallen, rise up! Your destiny is a glorious one! Stand tall and walk in the light of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ! You are stronger than you realize. You are more capable than you can imagine. You can do it now! Of this I testify in the sacred name of our Master and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, amen”.-President Uchtdorf.

This quote really helped me know how much support we get from all over. from home, from the prophet and of couyrse our savior, Jesus Christ. 

Lastly we had an awesome turn out at church. our family that we are teaching, the dad is named richard and he has a huge alcohol problem, showed up and they loved church. hes the best. he always says how he needs us and how much he loves us! Hes the man. he will get baptised just dont know when yet because he has to kick this problem. 

So thats a little summary of this week. over all it was a good one and my testimony grew a bunch. i love you all and want to thank you all for the support! youre the Best!

-Elder Adams Jr.

PS i found a stray chocolate lab puppy and i had to take a picture with it for you mom. It was too cute to pass up. it stained my shirt but it was worth it!

My City (Elder Adams Jr. Edition)

Just a stray Chocolate Lab Puppy

Its True!!!!

Nohemy's Baptism

Me and my guy Jaxon Jade Jr.... He's the Man

December 5, 2016 - Happiness

Hey all,

So this week was a good one. i just wanted to say how awesome this oppertunity i have is. not many other people get to go to a forign land and get to learn the  culture and language for two years. the best part is, i know that pretty much only missionaries in our church get to preach the gospel during this time. thats the best part, we get to share this plan of happiness to children of our Heavenly Father. so this week i learned a lot about how our actions have an impact on others. 

we have interchanges for a day and we got to go out with elder stout. he is our district leader and has 23 months in the mission. he is an amazing missionary and im glad we got to learn from him before he left. the one thing we learned the most was we have to be animated and show our happiness for this work. we all need to show our happiness, we know of all the blessings that we can recieve in the eternities if we obey the commandments and live the gospel. 

so this saturday we had another baptism. his name is Juan and he is awesome. he cooks us lunch every day and he has the strongest stestimony. he is super prepared to get the priesthood and flourish in this church. we are super excited for his wife nohemy too. we are going to baptize her next saturday. im stoked for them and their decision to follow the example of our lord and savior Jesus Christ. 

Sooo i dont know how many of you have really have read the words to the son If you could hie to Kolob. i encourage all of you too. it has really hit me how big this plan of happiness is for us and how we cant even comprehend it. i really like the last 2 verses. the lines all start out the same butthey go like this. there is no end to... virtue, might, wisdom,light, union, youth, priesthood, truth, the next veres is a bit different but it kind of follows the same pattern. it goes there is no end to... glory, love, being, there is no end to death above, and it repeatas that twice. sorry i tried to explain it but its easier if you just look it up haha its number 284 i think. 

Just a little funny thing that happened this week. we met real live chancho it was awesome. he was wearing sweatpants and a stained shirt hahah. the funniest part was he was the biggest bible basher we have contacted yet... hes 12. thats about it this week. i really learned about happiness and how we need to share it with everyone. Love you all

-Elder Adams Jr.

PS scripture for the week... Mosiah 5 15 it talks about how idfe we are steadfast and immovable always abounding in good works, we will recieve so many blessings.

November 28, 2016 - Hey All!

hey all,

 so this week has been packed with different activities. it has been really fun, and feels like i wrote yesterday sooo... this week we have been busy with all of our investigators and we had to go to migration which is pretty much the DMV on steroids, and we did a service project. The trip to migratio took for ever but we did get to go to salvador del mundo which is like the statue of liberty for El Salvador i guess. the service project was awesome. there is a river that created a canyon and a bunchof houses fell in it over time. so we cleared space for them to build new houses. it really was awesome seeing how grateful the people are. 

besides those two things this week hass been packed with visits and investigators. im finally able to understand a lot more each day. the first day was rough i did experience my first earthquake here it was a 7.2 but we didnt even feel it because we were walking haha. 

so now to the more spiritual side of the weeek. we mwt a guy named richard who is the nicest guy. hes like 70 and he invited us in without saying anything. he went on to saying that he is a bad person and he needs to change his life. he was a little shy about it but he said he has been an alcoholic all his life and he wants to change. his wife said that she has been cryinh to the lord for something to help him get out of this problem. it was awesome because i know that we are that push for him. we did have a big bummer at church though. 

we had 2 baptisms scheduled for the 3rd and they were both super positive. they just needed to come to church this week and they would be all ready. the guy came but said that she didnt want to come. we havent had the chance to talk to her yet but we will get her to church one more time and schedule another date. 

this work is awesome. i have already experienced some of the most spiritual experiences i have ever had and it has also been a huge struggle at times. i know that the lord is there to keep pushing me and i know that this will be the best 2 years of my life. i love you all but i dont have a ton of time. ill try to send some pictures but this computer is back. 

love you all.

-Elder Adams Jr.

November 21, 2016 - I'm Not Dead Yet

hey everyone, 

just to start off, i want to say how grateful i am for each and every one of you. soooo a ton has happened since i last wrote. I MADE IT!!!!! im finally in the field and i couldnt feel any better. i had a great start. first ill tell you whats happened. so on tuesday morning we left the mtc at 430 in the morning. all the elders and hermanas going to any of the missions in el salvador got on a bus and took off. the ride is normally 4 hours but they were doing road work so it took like 6. it was kind of funny when we crossed into el salvador, our leader that was smuggling us told us to say we were only going to be here for 2 weeks. they actually didnt ask so i didnt have to lie haha. on the way we dropped off missionaries at the other 2 mission homes and then went to the presidents house. all of the presidents pictures  make him look like he is big and intimidating, but he is like 5 feet tall and he is a big teddy bear. we got there and he gave us all huge hugs. we had a bunch of presentations that night and then went to the secretarts house and spent the night there. we got up at 430 again (still recovering from that) and went to a stake center to get our new compaions. my companion is named Elder Bailey. hes from utah and he literally just finished his training the day before i got here. it is kind of a struggle because there is times where neither of us understand what is happening so we especially pray for the gift of tongues. he is super nice and fun but he has his head on straight and he wants to work. now the working part of the week. this week, i have just been meeting all of the investigators ad getting used to everything around here. my area is called alta vista II. im in a town justt outside san salvador. of course id lovee to be out in the jungle, but right now im glad im here, its like 20 degrees cooler then out in the country(still hot as). there are 3 families that we visit the most. the first is the rodriguez family. its a family of 4 (mom dad and 2 daughters). the dad and the older daughter are baptized (the daughter got baptized the day before i got here) the whole family is strong in the church and they continue to come every week to church. i have a feeling that we can get the others baptized soon. the next family is just a husband and a wife. they are about 25 and they are super positive. they always pray and read . the one thing is they have to come to church one more time before their baptisms on the 3rd so they have one sunday. they promised that they would come so we are going to hold them to it. we pray for them all the time. they are way cool and can somewhat understand a buit of english so if im struggling they can understand me in english. the next family is the highlight of the week. i get into the field and find out that we have 2 baptisms scheduled for the first saturday while im here. their names are raul and concepcion. they are like 75 and they have been trying to get baptised for ever. they needed to get married and paperwork has taken for  ever. so on saturday at the church er had a little wedding and then baptized them. raul didnt really understand that he had to go fully under the watter at once so he kept kicking a foot up.elder bailey had to try 5 times and he finally got him under haha. on sunday we had 3 confirmations the other being the girl that just got baptized. it was cool to stand in the circle for 2 of the 3. i could feel the spirit and i know that our heavenly father was speaking through elder bailey. oh yeah im in the same disttrict with elder junior so i see him all the time so thats way cool. its a struggle with spanish but it is coming along good. my comprehension is getting mush better but im still studying hard haha. thats pretty much it since the last time i wrote haha im kidding there has been a ton but i dont want to bore you and i dont have time. love you all! and ill talk to you in a week

-Elder Adams Jr.