January 27, 2010

Hey mom I'm online. I'm going to pick up my contacts today. I bought them from a store called Meijer.
Here's what my mission president wrote this week, I think he's really excited about Elgin, and Elder Layton and I working together.

Wow, you really have a number of great people that you are working with. It sounds like some miracles have happened for you has you have found people to teach. Thank you for your good works. And, thank you for your work with Elder Matheson.

I look forward to great things from you and Elder Layton. Remember to focus on having good relationships with others, including the members of your district, the members of your ward, and your companion. Be sure that your proselyting program includes the ideas of both of you. You both have a lot of experience that you can pool together to make things be on fire in Elgin. These last few transfers are those in which you can apply all of the things that you have learned up to now in the mission.

Have a wonderful week.

Nice well done, you are online. How are things going today. We don't have
much planned, just errands and shopping. I'm going to try the printer at wal-mart today.
If it's been over a year you have to get an eye exam in order to purchase contacts they won't let you buy them otherwise.

There were days when I would work at costco and I think I did like 11 days straight. You're learning the value and principle of enduring to the end.
So josh do you have a car now or are you by uban, or bahnhoff or still on
a bike? Oh and Josh, is schnitzel like a meat that's been breaded and fried, am I remembering right? So you say that you cook for your companion, are you becoming quite the chef. What is it that you make? We haven't been able to cook much lately. Speaking of food. This friday we are going over
to a philipino ladies house and she is going to cook philipino food for us. Specifically something called balute (buh-loot). What it is a partially
formed duck or chicken egg. It's about 13 days old, and the baby is basically fully formed and you eat it out of the egg, so that will be an experience to be had this friday. I will take pictures and let you know how it goes.
can I just say that I love Elder Layton. Probably my favorite companion.
The work has been great. We work so hard together, and we are able to talk
to each other, really talk to each other. It's like serving a mission with your best friend, out doing the work of the Lord together. Our planning
both at night and during weekly planning seems so much more meaningful. When Elder Layton and I start thinking and working together it just seems like good ideas come out.
We continue to see success. However on Sunday we ended up having to drop
Linda. She just had so many questions and concerns, and when we bore testimony and asked her to read the Book of Mormon, she wouldn't. She couldn't make that commitment, she wanted to continue to do her own research. It's
so sad to see these people with such strong testimonies of Jesus Christ, refuse our message. They won't accept anything else than what they have. It's sad to watch them struggle with this, it's like they are tied up and you have to just sit there and watch them struggle because you can't force it or untie them. They have to let it happen for themselves. That's been one of the hardest things on my mission is that I can't make people feel the way I feel, I can't pull that feeling out of my backpack and give it to them like some kind of gift.
Things went really well on Saturday with Will Rios' son Noah being baptized. He has deffinately felt the spirit a few different times. He commented to me that he has always turned other missionaries away, and he doesn't know why he let Elder Matheson and I in. Will is doing great though. I stood and talked with him in the hallway and shared some of my feelings with him and I could tell he was touched by the spirit, as I could see his eyes starting to glisten.
There have been some powerful evidences of the spirit being with us out here. People are seeing and recognizing. It's been a testimony builder to me. I love this work. We surge forward everyday. Walk a little faster, door to door, meeting great people. Some swear at us and reject us, others appreciate us and are touched. It just makes that one nice lady that we'll meet or talk to out of maybe a hundred or more angry people all worth it. It just makes me want to work that much harder to find someone, and see them touched, and to know that you've made a difference in someones life, so I go, and go, door to door, and little bit faster. This is the greatest work on the face of the earth, the work that I have been called to do. This work and Church are true, all of it. I leave you my testimony in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.

Love Elder Adams.

Perservere Josh, Onward. Nothing can stop this work from progressing, certainly not Satans grasp of despair that he would seek to grip our hearts with. Forward, and on to Victory. Go.

The early mornings that will be good for you, envigorates the mind and enlivens the body.
Have a good week!
Why didn't dad write again, if he's busy tell him it's ok. I still love him.