Just a quick letter to Mom this week...

Hello Mom! 

Man I am so excited for Heidi's cross country season! I bet she is so ready to fly! 

Yeah Dad told me about that (our highschool football team) haha! Go Bulldogs!! I heard lots of good things about Coach Minnick before I left so it is super cool to hear him succeed. Always a good day when Platte County gets beat haha. 

I have actually been doing a super great job hydrating and taking my vitamins. Oh and my food choices have actually been pretty solid! Lots of rice, beans  and canned chicken haha. I will definitely let y'all know if I need something. Oh also you would be proud of how good of a job I do cleaning up after myself at my apartment haha. Me and Elder Dell keep it pretty tidy. I have seen some of the other apartments and the other elders are definitely not as clean.

Yes I will have another great week! 

Love you too!

Elder Cody 

P.S. I just remembered as I was typing about something funny that happened this week. So me and Elder Dell had to go to President Welch's house on Friday night to print out flyers for the baptism because the church printer is broken. So while we were there we got talking with President Welch, and it turns out he is a big chiefs fan because of Andy Reid. One thing about President is that he is super wealthy. He actually lived in Columbia, Missouri and when he moved Andy Reid bought HIS house. I was like no way haha. Anyways the funny part of the story is that we talked about football with President for like 30 minutes AND he was just chilling in a t-shirt and shorts! I have been sworn to secrecy though because in Presidents words "what happens at the mission home, stays at the mission home." Anyways that's all. Love you !

Week 4 - Yakima, WA

Hello friends and family!

It has been another great week here in Yakima, Washington! I have been learning lots and working hard. The weather has been very hot lately with highs in the 100s almost every day. 

On Tuesday I went on my first exchange with Elder Meyer. He is super awesome and taught me lots. We also got to do some service for an older couple in his ward. We just moved their stack of firewood into a shed, but it was super fun. Just a little hot haha.

Wednesday I went on another transfer, this time with Elder Pennington. Elder Pennington was super chill and we got along really well. Me and him are definitely gonna hang after the mission.

Thursday and Friday we taught a bunch of lessons. We have a lot of investigators that we just started teaching and are getting to know better. One of our investigators that we have been teaching for a little bit is actually getting baptized this upcoming Saturday! I am super excited for him! His name is Jose and he is a super cool homie. 

Saturday me and Elder Dell did some more service. We also taught a bunch more lessons. We have definitely been keeping busy, but that is how I like it. It is super rewarding helping bring people closer to Jesus Christ. It brings me a lot of joy.

Sunday was super awesome! So me and my companion are actually over two wards, a family ward called Tieton Drive, and the Yakima YSA(young single adults) ward. The talks were super great and the lessons were fire. It's kinda funny being in the YSA ward because everyone is pretty much my age. Two of the investigators we are bringing to the YSA are only 19, which is super cool because they are way easier to teach then adults haha. 

Missionary work is definitely hard, tiring work. It is so awesome though because I know I am helping other people and bringing them closer to Jesus Christ. This gives me lots of joy! Being a missionary is definitely the best thing ever!

Sincerely,

Elder Adams

Pictures: no pictures this week cause I didn't take any... I'll try and take some next week.

 

 

 

Week 3- First week in the field!

Hello everyone!

So I finished up last week at the MTC and I am now in Washington! My first area is actually in Yakima, Washington and it is super awesome here. I arrived last Tuesday late in the afternoon. Upon arrival I went to the mission office, ate some tacos, and then got straight to work. On Wednesday I got assigned my trainer. His name is Elder Dell and he is the GOAT. He is from Lehi, Utah and has been on his mission for about a year. 

My area that I am over is Tieton Drive East and the Yakima YSA. The wards I cover are Tieton Drive and the YSA. Me and Elder Dell actually split our wards with the STLs(sister training leaders). They cover Tieton Drive West for their teaching area. We are getting dinner every night this month except for like one, so they are feeding us pretty good. Lots of memorable experiences, ask Heidi about one of the guys we are teaching named Jose.** He's so cool. The most memorable thing so far would probably be just walking the streets and seeing all the crazy people in Yakima. A lot of the people in our area are Mexican and Catholic, so everyone's favorite phrase is Yo soy Catholica. They also like to make fun of us in Spanish, but Elder Dell knows Spanish and they get nervous when he starts talking back. I will definitely pick up Spanish while I am out here, because pretty much everywhere is a Spanish area. In fact almost every district in the entire district has Spanish Elders or Sisters. My district is so awesome. Because my companion is our DL (district leader) I get to go on exchanges with the elders in our district which include, our ZLs (zone leaders), the APs, and Elder Wardell, one of my favorite Elders that came out with me. I am stoked because my district has a bunch of hard working missionaries that I will learn lots from. Other then me and Elder Wardell all of the Elders have been out for over a year. I think President Welch set our district up like this on purpose so that me and Elder Wardell would be surrounded by good examples and so we could learn lots. 

There has been lots of super cool experiences that have already happened, but I just wanted to share two of them. The first cool experience came when me and Elder Dell were knocking doors deep in our area the other evening. It was very hot outside, and we had been outside for several hours. We walked past a house where some Hispanic people were having a little get together and making some food. They called us over and gave us some food and cold water bottles. Me and Elder Dell were super grateful, and the food was SO good.

The second cool experience came when me and Elder Dell were out finding. We had parked the car to go finding, but before we got out we both felt that we should go finding somewhere else. We hopped in the car and prayed to know where to go. We both felt we should drive farther downtown. Elder Dell asked me to listen to any impressions that I had while we were driving. As we drove deeper downtown, I asked Elder Dell to take a right and then pull over in some shade. When we pulled over we both felt that we were in that area for a reason. Before getting out of the car Elder Dell checked our phone and saw a referral that we had gotten the day before. On a whim he checked the address of the referral and it turns out that the person who we had gotten a referral for lived literally right where we parked the car. Like 20-30 feet to our right. It was pretty crazy. I know that Heavenly Father was using the Holy Ghost to guide us to that spot. We had forgotten about that referral and we may not have been able to get in contact with them had the Holy Ghost not brought us there on that day. It was a super cool experience that strengthened my faith in the gift of the Holy Ghost. 

I miss you all lots! I love hearing from you guys and I will continue to respond when I can! I attached kind of a lot of photos because I forgot to send some last week haha. 

Love you all,

Elder Adams

***Jose's story: So I am actually in Yakima straight up, I'll email dad more specifics on where exactly I am. I am phenomenal, being in the field is so much better then the MTC. Lot of amazing things have happened, but one of the most amazing things was meeting Jose, a guy who has been meeting with the missionaries for a while. Jose is preparing to be baptized on August 27th. Or I should say he is going to be baptized on August 27th, because he is so ready. Me and my companion, Elder Dell, got to go over the baptismal interview questions with Jose on Sunday after church. Elder Dell felt like we should have one the ward members named Alex join our lesson. Turns out Alex was a convert to the church who then served a mission, and he had lots of similar life experiences to Jose. He basically taught our entire lesson, and his testimony was so strong. So it was super amazing to see someone who is ready to be baptized, and super cool to see how the Holy Ghost can help us out, because Elder Dell had never even met Alex before our lesson. He just felt that Alex should join us and it ended up being exactly what Jose needed. 

Elder Adams is safe in Yakima!!!

 

Dear Adams  Family,

We are delighted to report that Elder Adams has arrived safely to the Washington Yakima Mission.  We love him and are excited to serve with him.  We look forward to his/her service as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Our primary responsibility is to help your son fulfill their purpose as a missionary and to help keep them safe and happy.  We also know you are a great blessing and asset to the success of Elder Adams.  We encourage our missionaries to call, write, email, message you every week.  We ask that your missionary iniate all communication with you.  In the event you do need to contact your son we ask that you contact us first.  We will act expiditiously to reach out to your missionary.

Keep us apprised of any changes to the address, phone number or email for you, your bishop, or your stake president.  We want to keep our records current so that we can contact you whenever necessary.

Attached is a photograph of Elder Adams taken with us at the mission office.   Please feel free to contact us with any questions you may have.

Thank you for the sacrifices you are making so your missionary is able to serve.  We have seen the Lord bless families of missionaries who serve in untold ways.  We know that His blessings will be upon you as well.

With love and appreciation,

President Phil Welch and Sister Anita Welch

Week 2- Provo MTC

Hello friends and family!

This week has been absolutely amazing! Our district continues to amaze me with how awesome they are. I continue to learn lots, and prepare to be the best missionary I can be. 

I have been very amazed this past week with the great love Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ has for each and every one of us. One of the ways I have been able to feel His love for me is through music. On Sunday we were blessed to hear a beautiful performance of the song "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul". It was very powerful. I have also felt Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father's love for me as I have had daily meaningful prayer. 

I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ loves each and every one of us. I would invite all of you to make time in your life for daily prayer. As you do so you will grow closer to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. You will also feel their great love for you. 

Love,

Elder Adams

A note to his mom when he was asked about the 600+ missionaries that arrived the day before:          

The arrival of the new missionaries has already made an impact for sure. Dinner was super busy, and the showers were very busy this morning. I did not get to help when they arrived but I met several of them Wednesday evening. The floor of my residence hall now has Thai, Korean, Japanes, and English speakers. We had some Mandarin speaking Elders but they were replaced with the Korean speaking Elders. The Korean speaking elders gave me some Korean beef jerky that they had and it was super tasty.