Congrats Grads!!

Sup!

Congrats Grads! MikeSteff! you better make your first million before I get back or else!

Welp things are going great around here with my hijo, Everyone continues to comment on his large-ness, its pretty impressive. But he's lost about 20 pounds since he started the mission, so yeah, he's slimin and thinin down and ready2go!

He's told me a little bit more about his life. So his mom died when he was 10 or so, then he lived with his grandma tell she died when he was 16, so that's when he started living on his own. It's been a rough life, but he's doing great here. haha he speaks all day in chilian slang that i don't understand but i'm sure little by little he'll succomb to la vida Colombiana. I'm pretty sure that his situation affected him a little bit, he's 24 but acts much younger. But i'm impressed by what he's becoming. He 's only has about 7 months active in the church, but he's learning alot and I'm sure by the end of the change he'll be a rockin´ those lessons. Right now with my gringo spanish i'm forced to teach about 95 percent of the time, it's made me realize the need to improve my spanish, but God blesses us in our weaknesses.

God has blessed us with a plintitud of elect investgatodors (i have offically forgotten my, already bad, english grammer. will you please forgive me. I'm pretty sure I mixed that word with english and spanish. oh well). I'm excited to see some new families progess in the gospel. One of which is a teengager that is part of an inactive family. They were inactive for more than 3 years, now there back and lovinit. They are now making us lunch two times a month. We found out about them from a sister that did her visiting teaching. Oh the power of visiting teaching. Visit all of your families! Try to the max to visit the ones that aren't active and reciving the blessings that God has ready for them. And of course this applies to home teaching as well! I'm pretty convinced that more than a half of the inactive families in the world would have stayed in the church, if they had visiting and home teachers that visited them monthly. All this family needed was a little push, now their eternal conditiones have drastically changed.

I'm still lovin the Campiña.

Today went bowling again, got a 125, movin on up, what's up! pretty positive. 3 more weeks and I'll be bringing home the 300. On our way home in transmelinio we got stuck for two hours in a traffic jam because there was a protest against transmelinio. The more I'm affected by liberal acts, the more i lean to being conservative. But Barrack you still got my heart! Oh, america.

But oh how I love Colombia. My companion told me that I eat a lot of rice. I now feel more comfortable eating my rice and beans than going over to the KFC across the street which I am yet to try. It'll probably take me some time when I get back, to get into the swing of our fastfood american lifestyle.

love you all to the max, max max!

e. adams

Still in Campina

Sorry, once again we had a conflicting activity Monday, happens. haha I guess there is a grand panic in the household if I don´t write Monday, probably thoughts involving me being abducted by the cartel or other intense situations, so i´ll do my best to write the week before if I know that

I´ll have to postpone to write until Tuesday. This week was because the changes were moved from Tuesday to Monday, because pres. Hacking had to leave for Peru today, so p'day was moved to today. But anways my change--I´m still here in campiña, elder huaman left to be District Leader and señor companion! I´m pumped for him! The president told me that he wanted to give him responsability so that he´d be able to stay focused and busy. I know he can do it, he only has to choose to. And as for me, I´m staying here in campiña, and am now training a new elder, his name is Elder Ramierz, from Chile, he´s 24 years old, and he´s the only member of his family, he hasn´t told me much, but said his mom died before he could remember and that was it. When he was 21 he was baptized and then three weeks later he was inactive, until seven months ago. Pretty intense no? He sent in his papers two months ago and now here is. He´s sweet! and he´s huge, a big 250 pounds! I´m pretty sure were the biggest companionship in the misson. what´s up! But yeah I´m pumped to work alot with someone that wants to work alot! A little overwhelmed, thoughts of what I expected from my trainer some 8 months ago, but I´m sure I'll have the help that I need if I just work, and pray, a lot.

This past week we had three baptisms. Andres and Salome, and Jesus Ernesto. The baptism rocked. Jesus, because of his back problems, was baptized him in a chair. Never thought i´d do that but it twas great, there weren´t any complications, super smoooooth.

One of my favorite things about missionary work is being able to see people change during the course of a lesson. Yesterday we were looking for a new member, but he wasn´t there, but we starting talking with his family and they let us in to share a 'quick message', ha they started by telling us how great their church is and they respect other religions, but they were content and firm in it ... or at least this is what they said. Ha he pulled out his CD player and insisted that we listened so some Psalms. We then started to share our message. One thing I love about being a missionary at this time, is the ability to be able to share any thing I want with an investigator. We started to talk about the Proclomation to the Family, and the plan God has for our families, little by little they began to listen more, we talked about the temple, and eternal familes, they listened more, we then talked about the restoration of this power to join our families together, and they listened more until the Spirit was so strong that they couldn´t deny it.

I love the opportunity I have to share the gospel. and I love you all.

e. adams

Ahh! Bogota Temple visit

por fin!

So i'm writing on a Tuesday because our p'day was changed to today. I'm sure you were waiting with much anticipation. que pena. Our p'day was changed because twas our turn to go to the temple and its not open here on Mondays. The deal right now is that every zone here in

Bogota has three times set each year that they go to the temple. I hadn't been able to go for 8 months, the whole time I've been here in Colombia so I was super pumped this week. Oh and how great it was. I wish I could go more. What peace! I haven't felt so peaceful in my whole mission. The spirit of Christ can dwell there, and I felt so much love during the whole session. I was filled with answers the whole time. I believe that one of the most powerful tools Satan uses against us and our testimonies is that he influences us to forget the things we once knew. Sometimes this happens within in hours, days, or months, but what ever the time period our inability to remember will make us more likely to do the things we wouldn't do if we did remember. When I was in the MTC my teacher always quoted mosiah 4:30, ''And now, oh man, remember, and perish not.'' And how true it is. But I thought in the temple, the Lord gives us many things to help us remember the temple when we go to the temple, the session we do for someone after we done it for ourseleves is exactly the same. At least for me it has helped me remember the promises I've made with God, who I really am, and what I can become.

The scriptures they are my everyday help to remember Christ and his sacrifice for me. I often find scriptures that I found and loved, but after time I had forgotten to apply. Like the sacrament

we take it, or at least we should, every week. In it we renew our covenents and promise to remember Christ throughout our week by keeping the commandments.

I felt that these three things, if we utilize them in the way we should we will be ''stired up in the remembrance of our duty', and ''perish not''.

Well that is something I was thinking about today. But yeah after the temple we went to the Museum of Gold. Basically thousands of artifacts of Gold from pre-spanish Colombia. Twas legit. I'll send pictures. After that we went bowling. got a 96, yeah I know legit. just a couple spares away from 300, right?

But yeah, 98.4% sure i'm getting changed this next Tuesday. I know for sure that at least huaman or I am headin' out.

I'm sure we can skype for mothers day. Well gmail is better but yeah. I'm pumped.

welp I'm out of time. love you all TO THE MAX!

e. adams

Edificado

Im so glad you guys enjoyed conference as well as I did. God spoke to me, He spoke to my companion and he spoke to my investigators. I left with many answers, much instruction and a lot of hope and desire to apply those messages the Lord sent me. I was able to watch every sesión but Sunday morning in english with elder larsen. It was great. I can understand all of it in spanish but its just not the same. I just downloaded the Sunday morning sesión cause i got stuck in a corner with a bunch of kids so i couldn't focus. But thats the great thing about it is We have 6 months to study and review those talks. I encourage all of you to get your hands on the ensign (they call it the liahona outside of the US) and read every talk at least once over again. I gurantee that you will have added insight that you didn't have this weekend of which you will need in the exact momment you read it. I know its helped me more than I could had hoped for in my misión. The truth is, no matter how intent I was, I cannot remember even the majority of what was said in all 10 hours, but the great thing is, I remember all about how I felt and the countiunal faith building feelings that what we teach and learn is true. That Christ lives, and this is his church and he has prophets , and with the desire to be more faithful and obedient. It was great to leave the priesthood sesión and hear my companion say ‘this stuff, all of it, is true’, and that night for the first time in three weeks, he prayed on his own. He is now deleteing his worldly music that was driving me nuts, I hope this conference will keep him moving until he can be rejuvinated in 6 months.

Oh and like how Mom said, its great to know that the talks aren’t orginized before hand. I had a professor last year that edited the talks for conference, and he told in addition to that, almost directly after they finish with conference, they start preparing for their next talk. When I was in the MTC David A. Bednar said that he had finished with a talk, but woke up in the middle of the night, and realized he needed to write his talk about something else. He then realized why during the conference when the talk before and after him all built upon each other.

For some reason, I was just over whelmed at the end of the conference. Listening to the choir sing Abide with me tis Eventide, then President Monson give his closing remarks. I just felt so much the love of God, and the beautiful things he has filled this wonderful life with, and then listening and looking at President Monson, and feeling and knowing more than ever that God himself was speaking through this man. Oh how true it is that ‘Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secrets unto his servants the prophets’

Changes are in two weeks, the 18th of April. I’m pretty sure I’ll get changed, but there is still a bunch to do for me here in Campiña. Sorry if my letter was a drag, but just couldn’t get my mind off conference!

I’m so happy here, and I know the divinity of this week. I know that my diligence here will have eternal consequences. And I’m so thankful for and love all of you!

Hasta luego,

e. adams