Short Email! Also, my next p-day is May 25th

April 20, 2015

So due to the fact that I had to spend forever registering for classes at BYU...I won´t be emailing much this week. 

Things are going amazing here in Amsterdam. This past week we met with a ton of members and investigators and had the singing Elders come along and sing to them. It was pretty amazing!! All the members are really excited for the fireside in 3 weeks! I think a lot will come and a lot of non-members will be there as well. We had some sad news this week...my bike got stolen...again. So I am bikeless again. I really don´t understand why my bikes are so amazing. When we walked up and it was gone, I just started laughing. I could either laugh or cry. I chose to laugh. Our investigators are doing great! We met a man named Frank this week and we set a baptismal date with him. I hope he will pray and read! I know he will get an answer. The people we are teaching right now are some of the most amazing people I have ever met. I am learning so much from them! Well I need to get going but I will write more on Saturday! 

Tot Zaterdag!! 

Zuster Adams

Picture: We went to the opening of the Ugandan House in Amsterdam and we met the Ambassador from Uganda to the Netherlands. She is a former dutch woman that gave up her citizenship and is now Ugandan. 

Temples, Tulips, and Aliens!

April 13, 2015

This week was absolutely amazing!! I am at peace with my life and just can't stop smiling. Guess what? I am staying in Amsterdam for another transfer with my amazing companion Sister Mashburn! We are so excited!!! 

Funnies: 

1. Sis. Goodman and I were walking home and she yelled "there are frogs all over." She was right. There were 2 frogs on the street. I immediately picked up the frog nearest to me. Sister Goodman was so surprised that that was my first move. I don't think she likes frogs very much. 

2. We watched the general Women's Session with our investigator Karlijn. In General Conference they always say at the end of a quote ''End of quote." Karlijn was so confused as to why they said that. We had to explain that they also say quote at the beginning of a quote. It was pretty funny. None of us really knew why they do that. 

3. We were talking about black mailing people and Elder Fowkes asked "Can you white mail people?, I am going to tell everyone nice things about you, hah!" It was hillarious! 

4. Our new investigator Tobias thinks that Sister Mashburn is an Alien...haha. We were giving the first lesson and he out of the blue asks if Sister Mashburn is an Alien. We assured him that she wasn't. He said that he is scared of religious people because he is worried that they will fly away and he will have to follow them. He grabbed Sister Mashburn's arm before we left and said very firmly "Don't fly away." It was so funny. 

5. We meet with this amazing couple from England. The wife is a member and the husband is not. While we were eating dinner, we did english accents for them and they did american accents for us! It was awesome! We were laughing so hard. 

6. I got attacked by my bike this week. 

This week was so good!!! We started out with a really good lesson with our investigator Ike. We taught the Plan of Salvation and he asked amazing questions. His friend sat in on the lesson and took a Book of Mormon. He is so open to learning. We then headed down to Gouda to spend the night. We got up early the next morning and went to the Temple. It was the last time I will be in the Temple on my mission. It was a wonderful session. The spirit was so strong! I learned so much and had so many questions answered. I was worried about if I should keep studying International Relations. But while I was sitting in the Celestial Room, I received a confirmation that I do indeed need to study that. I am relieved and excited! After going to the Temple we went to the Tulip fields. It was beautiful. There were not very many tulips bloomed but there were some beautiful daffodils. We kind of froze though. I was ambitious and didn't wear a coat...not very smart. 3 of my fingers turned white. It was cold. But we had a lot of fun! We met with a bunch of less-active and inactive people this week. They all had lots of reasons as to why they are not coming to church. We did have a weird miracle with one lady. She explained why she isn't coming to church. It mainly was because she didn't feel welcome in Amsterdam. I was very honest with her about Amsterdam. There are improvements to be made in Amsterdam. I told her that we need her help to help things get better here. I don't usually do that with less actives. She was touched by my honesty and has decided to church in 2 weeks. And hopefully permanently come back in the future. It was a complete change from the beginning of the appointment. At the beginning of the appointment, she was very negative and by the end she was thanking us for coming and a lot more positive. It was amazing! We hope to see her next week. We had a good appointment with Karlijn this week. We asked her to live as if she was a member and she promised to do that. She really wants to get an answer to get baptized. I think her answer will come soon! Our first lesson with Tobias was amazing!!!!!!! His mother was a member in Portugal. She is passed away now but I really think she is working on the other side to help her son join the church. He came to church on Sunday and loved it! He was asking so many good questions! Church was amazing! 152 people were in Sacrament Meeting. That is the most they have had in a long time. It was amazing! The Singing Elders(Elders only called to sing) came to our Sacrament Meeting and did an amazing job. They were able to make a ton of appointments with the members and will be teaching them about missionary work to help them invite their friends to their music fireside in a month. The ward is on an uphill!! I could just feel the excitement on Sunday. Probably the most exciting moment of Sunday was that my companion and I are staying together! We are so excited and have been praying to stay together. We are going to do amazing work. The weather is getting so much better! It was so warm. We took naps on the grass by a canal. It was splendid. I love spring!! Life is so good right now. 

Ik hou van mijn leven!! 

Zuster Adams

When Answers Come

April 6, 2015

This past week has been wonderful! The Lord truly does support us and give us exactly what we need to keep going! 

Funnies for the week:

1. The wind this past week was absolutely crazy!! It blew and just kept blowing. I felt like I was going to fall over when we were walking. I will not miss the wind here in Holland. 

2. I kept nodding off on a metro this week and it was pretty funny to watch apparently because we were able to talk to someone about the gospel afterwards because they thought it was so funny and wanted to know who we were. Sleeping...a form of contact? Never would have guessed it. 

3. We walked past a bunch of geese this week and I decided to try and convert them as well. I tried to give them a card...but I got a sad rejection. We also rode a merry-go-round that day. :)

4. We were trying to explain what cottage cheese was to our ward mission leader was. We described it as lumpy...assuming that he knew that word. He had no clue what that word meant but thought it was funny. So he started using it for everything. He looked at a woman and said "She looks lumpy...we should go talk to her about the gospel." We died laughing. We then Google translated it on his phone and with a sigh he said "We shouldn't call people that word." It was awesome! So the whole week we have been making jokes about lumpy people and other things. 

This week was full of miracles. Life, am learning, is just full to the brim with miracles in every moment. Some of my mission dreams came true this week! We have had no one to teach basically my whole time in Amsterdam. It has been really hard and a lot of work. But last week we got 4 new investigators and this week we got 4 more new investigators. We have over 8 investigators and 3 progressing investigators with another 1st lesson this week. I don't know if I have ever seen that much success and explosion of work in a two week period in my whole mission. It was amazing! 3 of the new investigators for this week were a family. It is a Mom and her two sons. They are a member referral and the member came with us to the appointment. It may have been one of the coolest lessons of my mission. After eating dinner with the family, we sat around the table and we shared the restoration story with them. The spirit was tangible in the air and in their hearts. I could see that what we were saying was affecting those there. The coolest moment came when we taught them about prayer. We asked if they had ever prayed and they said that they hadn't ever really prayed. We taught them all how to pray and then asked them each to say a prayer for us. It was amazing! They all prayed and encouraged each other to try. The prayers were so heartfelt and touching. They truly were talking to their Heavenly Father. We asked them if they would be baptized if they knew that the Book of Mormon was true and they said yes. It was one of the most spiritual lessons I have taught and experienced. They have such a desire to do what is right. Their family has been going through a lot of hardship lately and the older son (23yrs) had stopped talking to his mother. In his prayer, he expressed his desire to make amends with his mother and help them make a strong happy family. It was amazing to literally see the power of the atonement at work. Their hearts were changed that night. They came to volleyball the next night at the church and loved it. Kyrti, the mother, thanked us for coming and for peace that we had brought with us. She told us that there truly was something different when we came. It was amazing! That family is an answer to many of my prayers. My biggest mission dream is to help bring a member referral family into the church. Teaching them has fulfilled that dream. I am so excited to teach them again this week. I do not think their process to baptism will be a long one. The other people we taught this week are amazing and doing really well! I went to Mission Leader Council this week and learned a lot. I learned about the Book of Mormon and the importance of it. I learned how to better teach my investigators the importance of the Book of Mormon. The importance is in the Savior, Jesus Christ. I am learning more and more about the atonement and my Savior. The Book of Mormon first testifies of Jesus Christ before anything else. I am grateful for what I learned! Conference this week was amazing! I learned so much. There have been a lot of things on my mind with going home in August and with how to finish out my mission with everything I have. I had questions that I wrote down and questions that I didn't even know I had. They were all answered. I feel immense peace in the future and in the present. I know that the Lord has much in my future and I know that he has much for me to do today. It is wonderful how every time you listen to Conference how much knowledge you are able to receive. For any of you that have not watched all sessions, I would encourage you to do so. I feel like I can go out and conquer the world. To top it off, we are going to the Temple tomorrow!! It will be the last time I am in the Temple on my mission. I am going to savor every moment! We will then go to Keukenhof, which is a giant garden park full of tulips and every other type of flower you could think of. I am so excited! Pray that the Sun will be shining. Spring hasn't quite made it to Nederland yet. Hopefully it will soon! Yesterday, I got to see Rick and Joyce De Bruijn from Lelystad! It made my day and week!! Ahh I have missed them so much! Well I feel like there is more to say but I can't think of anything so I guess I will just stop here. :)

Blijf aan het glimlachen! 

Zuster Adams

Pictures: 

1. Goose contacting

2. Panenkoeken party with the elders this morning! We watched the last session of conference! 

Be Joyful in All Circumstances!

March 30, 2015

Well this week was quite a roller coaster ride! But I want to give a shout out to my brother for getting his mission call to the South Africa Durban mission! I am so proud of him and excited for him! We won't see each other for 3.5 years but it doesn't matter because we are in the service of Heavenly Father. 

Funnies:

1. We taught a lesson to this guy from Ghana this week and during the lesson he wanted to preach to us. He told us probably over ten times, "Let me tell you something" It was pretty funny! 

2. Because of a freaky power problem in Diemen(where we live)...almost all of North Holland(province in the Netherlands) had no power. It was crazy! None of the trains, planes, trams, or metros could run! It was a nightmare. 

3. It has been crazy windy. I was wearing a hat and my hat flew right off my head and all the way down a street. 

Well lots happened this week. Lots of things happen every week. It is so hard to try and summarize it all into a few paragraphs. I started out the week by giving a Zone Training to about 25 missionaries. The Zone Leaders and I did a good job. We talked all about receiving revelation and acting upon it. It was really good. I learned a lot. I am learning how to present well and how to teach to a large number of people. It has been really an awesome experience. We had all the missionaries do an Easter egg hunt in symbolism of seeking revelation. They seemed to like it! We had some really good appointments this week too. After 8 weeks of working in Amsterdam, we are finally starting to see a progression in the work. We got 4 new investigators this week!! They are all pretty positive and I can see some of them getting baptized! It was amazing! We also met with some inactives and were able to really connect with them. It was awesome! We did have some struggles with being late to appointments. An older lady in the ward was so mad at us for being late for dinner. I have learned on my mission you are never late to a Dutch person's home. They are very punctual. I really appreciate it unless...I am late :) We had an amazing first lesson in the Central Station in Amsterdam. We met this man Michael on a tram the other day and he is amazing. He kept asking us about keys and where people get their authority. We were able to explain the priesthood and he seemed to understand it. He also is taking the next 2 days to fast for God to help him to know the way. It is amazing! He is so cool! Yesterday, I was able to finally after about 8 months see the Elders that I was in the MTC with. I have missed them. They really are like my brothers and it was so good to see them. Elder Heinricks is going to be in my district now! He just got called to be an office elder! I am so excited! Our mission is doing really cool things with music. Last general conference there was an elder that sang a solo in priesthood session. Well he is in my mission. He is amazingly musically talented. There are 4 elders, him included, that have been called to just do music. They are traveling the mission doing music firesides. It is amazing and is bring so much success! I am so excited for them to come to Amsterdam. Elder Conatti, who was in the mtc with me, is one of the singing elders. We saw them at a concert last night! They are amazing! This week was a trial of my faith. It is amazing how when trials come, they don't ever come in a trickle...they usually come in a downpour. Tuesday, I woke up with really bad pain in my hip. I have been walking with a limp ever since. It has been so annoying because I can't run or walk really. I am just in pain. I am working through the pain but it is frustrating. I also got a pretty bad cold. Anyways, Friday rolls around and I am not doing so good. I am just beat down and kind of frustrated. When come home from our dinner appointment with the metro. We go to get our bikes and mine is gone. I just burst into tears. I was at my wits end. My bike was stolen. I have had that bike my whole mission. I was pretty upset. I looked at my companion and said "what more could the Lord take from me?" We went home and I had time to think about everything that has been happening. All I have wanted to do was give the Lord my all and then all these things keep happening to keep me from doing that. I have learned some pretty incredible lessons from having my bike stolen and my physical problems. I want so much to give the Lord everything. I want to sacrifice everything to serve him. I have told the Lord many times to take more from me so that the work could progress. What I have realized is that I don't need to do that. I need to give my will to the Lord but he doesn't require everything because I can't give everything. Only the Savior can give everything. I have learned that I have the Savior because he can give everything when I can only give a widow's mite. My bike got stolen and honestly I don't even care. It is a bike! I will get another one! My hip and back are getting better. They aren't great but I can work! We must face all trials with an attitude of learning rather than frustration. I have learned how to do that and it makes coming out of trials a lot easier. I feel a lot more peace and comfort. It is amazing! I love my Savior and am so grateful for what he did for me and that I don't need to do everything myself! We have so many appointments this week! It is so exciting! Satan can not stop me or dampen my spirits!! I have the Savior of the World on my side and nothing can get me down!! 

De Heiland Leeft! Hij is met ons! 

Zuster Adams 

"He Knows Me Better"

March 23, 2015

This past week has been one of learning and growing! It is amazing how we
 never stop learning!

 Funnies:
 1. We were knocking doors and I can whistle pretty good so we pondered the
 idea of having a whistling concert on every door...we didn't end up doing
 it...but you never know ;)
 2. Dutch stair wells are TINY. We had to help one of our investigators move
 this week and it was an adventure getting the shelves, beds, and washing
 machine down. Elder Bosco carried the washing machine down on his back...it
 was crazy. There was a really big shelf and we contemplated moving in off
 the roof. I also...may have fallen down the stairs. I was fine though.
 3. We filled up an air mattress with a blow dryer!!
 4. Last night some one told us that our visit was very unfruitful. It
 sounded so funny when he said it.

 Well I have learned a lot this past week. The beginning of the week I was
 frustrated with a couple things. All the people we had found last week had
 turned into nothing. No one would answer their phones and were not home. It
 was frustrating and I found myself angrily asking Heavenly Father, why the
 work wasn't going anywhere. The Lord knows how to answer my prayers and
 humble me. We were in District Meeting and I realized that Heavenly Father
 has a plan. He loves me and the people we are talking to. He wants their
 success and will make it happen. I don't need to worry. I need to trust in
 him. I made a personal commitment to myself to be happy in all
 circumstances. This commitment helped me later in the week. We had some
 cool miracles this week. We looked up a potential and she let us in and we
 were able to teach her the first lesson. It was a good lesson. She told us
 at the end she wasn't interested but it was amazing that she let us in and
 let us share our message with her. We drew the Plan of Salvation at a
 shopping center this week! It was really awesome! We had a bunch of good
 conversations. We did almost get a ticket...we asked a cop if we could do
 it and he said yes...but then other cops came and weren't sure if we could
 do it. Hopefully they don't call the elders! Other miracle was that our
 investigator Ike let us serve him! Dutch people like to do things
 themselves a lot of the times. They are very self-reliant. It is great! But
 we were really excited when Ike said that we could help him. It turned out
 great! We were able to teach a girl that was there and give her a Book of
 Mormon and our number. We will see if she calls. It was really fun though!
 We have this incredible woman from England that we are reactivating and her
 husband isn't a member. He sat in our plan of salvation lesson!! We were so
 excited! He almost came to church and went to the stake activity on
 Saturday. We are so excited!! He is amazing. Saturday was a really good
 day. We had Sister's Conference at the mission home. I love my mission
 president and his wife! They are so amazing! I learned a lot! I also got
 the chance to speak to the sisters for 10 minutes. It was really wonderful.
 I talked about how it is impossible to fail as a missionary. I also talked
 about how at the end of your mission what will bring you the most joy will
 not be the success you saw but rather the personal growth that you have
 seen and the person you have become. It went really well. The other sister
 training leaders also spoke and they did great jobs! I got to see my old
 companions and my friends in the mission! It was wonderful. Yesterday was a
 trying day but there were a lot of miracles as well. I have been having
 back problems recently. I have a lot of pain and it is having interesting
 side affects. Yesterday it was especially bad. I had lots of things to do
 at church and people expected a lot of me. I was a bit overwhelmed. Right
 before Sunday school I almost broke down crying because of the stress. My
 companion and I were supposed to teach. The tv wasn't where it was supposed
 to be and the ward mission leader was upset with me. We also had forgotten
 our lesson plan. It was crazy. I pulled it together and we gave our
 lesson.  It went well and surprisingly, multiple people told us that they
 really felt the spirit and were really touched by our lesson. Afterwards, I
 did feel a bit sick and my legs were pretty shaky. The Lord provided and
 everything worked out. After church a woman that I haven't really talked to
 before told us that she has 4 friends that want to take the lessons!!! She
 is going to be setting up an appointment soon!! I was so excited. I can't
 wait to meet her friends. She told us a cool story of her one friend that
 received an answer that she is supposed to meet with the missionaries two
 weeks ago! It was amazing! We got home from church and all our meetings and
 I just let everything out. I told Sister Mashburn that I wasn't feeling
 good. We took it easy and I was able to talk out all of my concerns
 regarding my health and also the work. I had gotten a blessing saturday
 night and it said that the Lord knows all the trials I will face in this
 life and that everything will be okay. It said I need to face my trials
 with a positive attitude. Yesterday, I learned that the lord has a plan. I
 need to learn patience. These problems aren't going to magically go away. I
 need to delegate my stress load to my companion. She wants to help. I need
 to let her help me. I have some many things I need to do and sometimes I
 forget that there are people to help me. The last few months there hasn't
 really been an opportunity for me to relax or ask for help. Those around me
 needed me to be strong. I feel like the Lord wants me to learn to let other
 people help me. I need to learn to let other people be in control. I was
 humbled. I love my Heavenly Father. He knows exactly what I need to learn
 and when the time is right to learn certain things. I have dedicated myself
 to learning from all the trials that will come. I will face them joyfully
 and with a learning heart. We are seeing miracles. I am seeing the miracles
 that the Lord wants us to see. We are getting member referrals! That has
 been my dream my whole mission! Heavenly Father knows my desires and
 dreams. He will make them happen in his timing. This work is incredible! I
 love the ward here! I love Amsterdam! My companion and I are having so much
 fun. I am going to go out this week and give it all I have!

 De Heiland is onze redder!!

 Zuster Adams

 P.S. I am taking care of myself. The mission president's wife knows about
my back problems. :) I am getting help!